What is the meaning of "incandescent"?

Question

But this time the machine has made the opposite mistake, detecting a virus that is not there in routine swabs taken from people who have come in with other problems – an overdose, a heart attack, a urine infection – and this doesn’t sound like such a bad thing on the surface; perhaps it’ll be nice to be able to say, ‘You know, we thought you had the virus, but you don’t.’ [...] I am outraged that this error has happened. On top of all the other vile facets of this dismal pandemic – its effects on young and old, its disgusting, disproportionate grip on those who are already disadvantaged – this feels like a twist too far. I am incandescent.

I don't think the bolded incandescent is saying the author is literally glowing white. But then what does it mean?

Answer 1

To say something is incandescent is to say it is heated to the degree that it emits light. For example, incandescent light bulbs are the ones with a filament that becomes super-heated when electricity flows through it.

"Heated" can mean literally hot or angry. So, incandescent is metaphorically saying the person is super-heated to an extreme degree.

Answer 2

The particular usage in the quote provided by the OP would seem to be a contraction of "incandescent with rage". The whole of the quote describes the things the writer is angry about, so the possible alternative meanings of bright or impressive are clearly not relevant.

This usage of incandescent is so common that it is specifically listed in the Collins definition of the word.

3. ADJECTIVE
   If you say that someone is incandescent with rage, you mean that they are extremely angry.

[literary]
It makes me incandescent with fury. [+ with]
Synonyms: furious, angry, mad [informal], raging More Synonyms of incandescent

Answer 3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescence

Incandescence is the emission of electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) from a hot body as a result of its high temperature.[1] The term derives from the Latin verb incandescere, to glow white.[2] A common use of incandescence is the incandescent light bulb, now being phased out.

Extreme anger causes the face to flush red, as if it were glowing red hot.

Answer 4

It's written in a slightly confusing way. English-speakers use brightness are a metaphor for attractiveness or compentency. A good worker is a shining star, or is dazzling you with her abilities, or she's on fire (doing her job quickly and perfectly), or she's incandescent. By itself "I am incandescent" means "I am doing an amazingly good job". We commonly use the word incandescent in that way, to mean "very, very impressive".

But English speakers also like to use fire and heat metaphors for anger: a white-hot rage, burning with jealousy, a smoldering hatred, a fiery rage. But you have to say "rage" or "jealousy" for that to work -- we might equally well say a white-hot, fiery ... passionate love.

The person writing that sample probably assumed you could tell they were angry and decided to shorten "incandescent fury" (or something like that) to just incandescent. But it's confusing. I had to read it a few times. At first I assumed they meant that despite all of the problems, or maybe because of them, they were doing their job much better than normal.