Definition of "diaphanous" in English

adjective

1. Transparent or translucent; allowing light to pass through; capable of being seen through.

2. Of a fine, almost transparent, texture; gossamer; light and insubstantial.

   • 1951, Robert Frost, Unpublished preface to a collection, 2007, Mark Richardson (editor), The Collected Prose of Robert Frost, page 169, The most diaphanous wings carry a burden of pollen from flower to flower.
   • 1963, Hermann Weyl, quoted in 1985, Floyd Merrell, Deconstruction Reframed, page 67, What is amazing is that "a concept that is created by mind itself, the sequence of integers, the simplest and most diaphanous thing for the constructive mind, assumes a similar aspect of obscurity and deficiency when viewed from the axiomatic angle" (Weyl, 1963, 220).

3. (physics) Isorefractive, having an identical refractive index.