lit
verb
a simple past tense and past participle of light.
Showing results for "lit"
- a variation of litas.
lit
1 American
[lit]
/ lɪt /
verb
adjective
-
Slang. under the influence of liquor or narcotics; intoxicated (usually followed byup ).
-
Slang. amazing; awesome; cool (used as a general term of approval).
Today's rally was really lit!
lit
2
American
[lit]
/ lɪt /
verb
lit
3
American
[lit]
/ lɪt /
noun
Informal.
lit
4
American
[lit]
/ lɪt /
noun
lit.
5
American
abbreviation
-
liter; liters.
-
literal.
-
literally.
-
literary.
-
literature.
Lit.
6
American
abbreviation
lit.
1
British
abbreviation
-
literal(ly)
-
literary
-
literature
lit
2
British
/ lɪt /
Etymology
Origin of lit1
First recorded in 1895–1900 in the sense “intoxicated”
Origin of lit3
First recorded in 1850–55; by shortening
Explanation
If something's lit, it's illuminated with light from a lamp or other source. Your romantic dinner table might be lit only with flickering candles. A well-lit room provides enough light for whatever task you need to to there — your kitchen might be lit with under-cabinet lights that shine on the counters, and your office might be lit with a desk lamp. Lit also means "set on fire," like a lit campfire or a glowing, lit stick of incense. If you're studying American literature in school, you might describe it using the colloquial shorthand, "American lit."
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:
A blaze destroyed more than 500 hectares of land on Mount Bromo in 2023 when a couple lit a flare during a pre-wedding photo shoot.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
They lit candles, grasped rosaries and passed out poster boards and N-95 masks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Near brightly lit cave entrances, several kinds of algae and plants grew in the water.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Yin Yin Aung's home is now a small, dimly lit room with a very basic bathroom at the back.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
It was supposed to be waterproof, but the way their luck was going … The screen lit up and immediately picked up a satellite.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
“This was like magic. Then he gets the light lit. I say this is poetic, but it’s true. It lit the rest of my career. I was locked into science, mostly electricity.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
"The reason for the recall of the vehicles is the SRS warning light on the instrument panel is lit. An internal malfunction of the airbag module is possible," Rosstandard said in a statement.
From Reuters ● Aug. 8, 2022
But the museum reopening is “a very small step in the most dire of situations. It’s a candle lit. We’re not sure how this will go beyond this moment, but it is a positive gesture.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
“I knew it was gonna be lit, but I didn’t know it was gonna be this lit. Woo hoo!”
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2021
‘And we’ll kill the fatted calf—you long-lost whatever-you-are. Come an hour after candles are lit. Prodigal Son, what? Got a cup, has he?’
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
My English Lit. is a little rusty, but I seem to remember a couple of writers named Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2018
“But the Academy course only lasts a year, not six like in Psychology. I’ll have to see what I do afterward. Maybe Lit. But I’m planning to keep writing.”
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 10, 2016
“If the English Lit. department walked out, nobody would’ve done anything.”
From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2015
As reconstructed by Newby, onetime English Lit. teacher at Cairo's Fouad I University, Egypt's revolution was merely preposterous.
From Time Magazine Archive
The reason I'm so up on jealousy," Edith explained, complacently, "is because yesterday, in English Lit., our professor worked off a lot of quotations on us.
From The Vehement Flame by Deland, Margaret Wade Campbell
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.
