alight
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
alights,
present (3rd person singular)
-
alighted,
past participle, past
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alit,
past participle, past
-
alighting
present participle
-
to dismount from a horse, descend from a vehicle, etc.
-
to settle or stay after descending.
The bird alighted on the tree.
-
to encounter or notice something accidentally.
adverb
-
provided with light; lighted up.
-
on fire; burning.
verb
-
(usually foll by from) to step out (of) or get down (from)
to alight from a taxi
-
to come to rest; settle; land
a thrush alighted on the wall
adjective
-
burning; on fire
-
illuminated; lit up
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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alightsimple
-
alightssimple
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have alightedperfect
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have alitperfect
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has alightedperfect
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has alitperfect
-
am alightingprogressive
-
are alightingprogressive
-
is alightingprogressive
-
have been alightingperfect progressive
-
has been alightingperfect progressive
Past
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alightedsimple
-
alitsimple
-
had alightedperfect
-
had alitperfect
-
was alightingprogressive
-
were alightingprogressive
-
had been alightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of alight1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English alighten, Old English ālīhtan; equivalent to a- 3 + light 3 )
Origin of alight2
First recorded before 1000; originally past participle of alight “to light up,” Middle English alihten, Old English onlīhtan, equivalent to a- 1 + light 1 )
Explanation
The word alight has two distinct meanings: it can mean coming down or settling in a delicate manner, such as a bird perching, or it can be a rather poetic way to describe something that’s on fire (or “afire”). Just as the word alight has two distinct grammatical forms and meanings, it has two distinct beginnings in the Old English. That period’s word ālīhtan had an original meaning of dismounting, or lightening the load on the horse, and so is the ancestor of the verb we use today that means "to settle or perch." Meanwhile, the word onlīhtan (see the different spelling?) of that same time meant to be on fire, which became our adjectival use of the word.
Vocabulary lists containing alight
Fahrenheit 451
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Lord of the Flies
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Mythology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On a summer night alongside the Colorado River, a line of telegraph poles is set alight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Once a recipe is chosen, clientele relax; zoning out in nearby chairs as glass tubes alight and the machine purrs from within.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Kylian Mbappe: Has set this World Cup alight with his finishing - but not this game.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The cathedral, set alight in the overnight attacks, was almost completely destroyed during World War II and rebuilt only in the 1990s.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
“The advantage to this version of the simulation,” she says, her eyes alight, “is that he can act independently, and is therefore far more effective than a mindless soldier.”
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Lindsay Hale’s husband, Kai, has been dead for only 12 weeks when she alights in a cold winter landscape that she no longer recognizes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
McCartney’s musical time machine eventually alights on “Salesman Saint,” a reference to his father, Jim Mac, who died in 1976.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
When the setting sun in the west alights the skyscraper windows in the city with a glow, we call out to each other when we’re home: “It’s glow time!”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
He never alights on an answer, but the search has prompted some of his best music to date.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023
A yellow-shafted flicker chisels for an insect in a tree, and a kingfisher alights on an aspen bough.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
While I was visiting Cindy a few days later, a young cardinal alighted at the feeder and met our gaze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Rangers' search for a replacement quickly alighted upon Gerrard, who was of interest to club's American owners in the summer, before a number of issues resulted in him withdrawing from the running.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2025
It seems Gudegast and his cast of characters alighted for Europe with only a few ideas in place, and the tapestry of this world is not woven as tightly as the original.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025
Not surprisingly, by the time that the couple alighted at the Astrodome in 1974, they were headed for divorce proceedings.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2024
Kehaar came flying up the river through the rain and alighted on the narrow side of the punt.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Earlier this year, China’s social media was alit with videos of jobless university graduates visiting temples to seek the blessings of the gods.
From Reuters ● Sep. 30, 2023
Just as the animal was nearly out of sight, it flew back upriver, alit on the water, and floated back down—over and over again.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 15, 2023
More than 75,000 spectators attended the Matildas’ quarterfinal victory and the Sydney Opera House was alit in the yellow and green team colors.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
But of all the miracle works performed by the McDonald Corporation, you have alit upon two of the finest.
From Fox News ● Sep. 3, 2020
When he got to the water trough, Matt alit and filled it from the pump as Tam Lin had always done.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
Appalled by the incomprehensible waste—Hiroshima was still weeks away—he searched for precedent in myth and antiquity, alighting at once on the North African city of Carthage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
While the creations from independent L.A. brand Lucky Star Candle are technically burnable, I prefer to display them around my house like beautiful wax sculptures whose sole purpose is alighting aesthetic pleasure within me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
Transport officials urged fans to travel by tram to St Peter's Square and Victoria but to avoid alighting at Deansgate.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2023
These days, Lacey divides her time between Brooklyn and Mexico City — during the pandemic, she left a relationship, sold her home and cast about before alighting in Mexico City, almost on a whim.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Already a flight of four had been seen over the southwest shores of Hosk, not alighting but spying out the sheepfolds, barns, and villages.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
