Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Attractive as a subject for photography.
  • adjective Biology Producing or emitting light; phosphorescent.
  • adjective Caused or produced by light.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In general, light-producing; luminous.
  • Of or pertaining to photogeny.
  • In biology, producing light without sensible heat, as an animal or vegetable organism; giving rise to luminosity or phosphorescence; photogenous.
  • A reproduction of the configuration of any flat translucent object, as a leaf, or the wing of an insect, or a drawing upon translucent paper or tracing-cloth, made by confining it under glass in contact with a sensitive film, exposing to the action of light, and fixing or developing the image resulting in the film. A variety of photogenic processes arc now in use for copying mechanical drawings. See blue-printing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to photogeny; producing or generating light.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Generated or caused by light.
  • adjective Producing or emitting light, luminescent.
  • adjective Looking good when photographed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective looking attractive in photographs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

photo- + -genic

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Examples

  • While we are renewing last year's faded overall tans, the well-soaked British Columbia landscape will be progressively repainted in photogenic velvet green; emerald variations brushed onto sky-reaching cedars, ground-dwelling ferns and stubborn mosses by the tempests of winter wind and unrelenting rain.

    Nogales, here we come 2008

  • While we are renewing last year's faded overall tans, the well-soaked British Columbia landscape will be progressively repainted in photogenic velvet green; emerald variations brushed onto sky-reaching cedars, ground-dwelling ferns and stubborn mosses by the tempests of winter wind and unrelenting rain.

    Nogales, here we come 2008

  • Rick: People are sometimes called photogenic and that doesn't always mean that they're good looking and attractive in the conventional sense.

    Modern Guitars Magazine 2009

  • Rick: People are sometimes called photogenic and that doesn't always mean that they're good looking and attractive in the conventional sense.

    Modern Guitars Magazine 2009

  • Other than her hairstyle she is the same Marina—loud voice, big eyes my mother calls photogenic, and a pudgy nose that my sister says typecasts her into character roles.

    A Mountain of Crumbs Elena Gorokhova 2010

  • Other than her hairstyle she is the same Marina—loud voice, big eyes my mother calls photogenic, and a pudgy nose that my sister says typecasts her into character roles.

    A Mountain of Crumbs Elena Gorokhova 2010

  • That could be called photogenic as far as I'm concerned.

    Video: Annie Leibovitz and Miley Cyrus: Vanity Fair Fair, Vanity 2008

  • What some are calling photogenic proof of the mythical beast.

    CNN Transcript Aug 15, 2008 2008

  • Just months before, I had absorbed the news that Sarah Palin also had to face-my baby, the one the nurse had called photogenic as she handed us another ultra-sound photo, the one whose growth I had read about each night as its heart, legs, sex, ears and fingernails developed, had an extra chromosome.

    P. Gabrielle Foreman: Palin's Extra Chromosome (Choice) -- And Mine 2008

  • There are Foursquare badges for checking in to a venue with photo booths ( "photogenic"), being a frequent gym user ( "gym rat"), and eating at 20 different pizza places ( "pizzaiolo").

    James Sims: Broadway Marketing Ready to Play Foursquare 2010

Comments

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  • Think of it this way

    You could either be successful or be us

    With our winning smiles, and us

    With our catchy tunes or worse

    Now we're photogenic

    You know, we don't stand a chance.

    (Get me away, I'm dying, by Belle and Sebastian)

    December 27, 2008

  • I'll settle down with some old story

    about a boy who's just like me,

    thought there was love in everything

    and everyone you're so naive.

    They always reach a sorry ending,

    They always get it in the end...

    December 27, 2008

  • Yes!! See also naïve :D

    December 27, 2008