illumine

American  

[ih-loo-min] / ɪˈlu mɪn /

verb (used with or without object)

illumined, illumining

1. to illuminate.

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illumine British  

/ ɪˈluːmɪn /

verb

1. a literary word for illuminate

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Other Word Forms

• illuminable adjective
• self-illumined adjective

Etymology

Origin of illumine

1300–50; Middle English illuminen < Latin illūmināre to light up, equivalent to il- il- ¹ + lūmin- (stem of lūmen ) light + -ā- thematic vowel + -re infinitive suffix

Example Sentences

The non-narrative videos, which may well come to be regarded as the Sistine Chapel of video art, projected onto epic screens above the orchestra and singers, serve not to illumine Wagner’s drama but his intent.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2022

Those “if”s, those two counterfactuals, help illumine the precise borders of the crime.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 17, 2019

But Ms. Fairchild’s social media post guides us to the gold at its heart: Ms. McBride brings “nuggets of wisdom” about what Balanchine said that illumine a ballet that Ms. Fairchild has already loved dancing.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2018

Adjectives are where the elves of language both cheat and illumine reality.

From Slate • Aug. 6, 2014

He was holding the lamp high up, so as to illumine the whole room, and in the warm dim light the place looked curiously inviting.

From "1984" by George Orwell