persons possessing, or claiming to possess, superior enlightenment.
(initial capital letter) a name given to different religious societies or sects because of their claim to superior enlightenment.
any of several groups of illuminati, esp in 18th-century France
a group of religious enthusiasts of 16th-century Spain who were persecuted by the Inquisition
a masonic sect founded in Bavaria in 1778 claiming that the illuminating grace of Christ resided in it alone
a rare name for the Rosicrucians
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin illūminātī, plural of illūminātus “enlightened”; see illuminate
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
From the road, it can be identified only from its logo: an illuminati eye nestled into a pyramid, which sheds a tear into a river that vanishes into the horizon.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2024
In scathing, often florid language, the report compared the board to a "pyramid scheme," a "self-styled illuminati" and a fish that "rots from the head down."
From Salon • Sep. 2, 2022
One was an illuminati sign, a pyramid with an eye.
From Slate • Aug. 3, 2018
I am but a conduit by which the fantasy golf illuminati yield up their secrets to the forces of evolution.
From Golf Digest • Feb. 15, 2018
So, by the illuminati, the prophets, the adepts, the time that followed was yearly set aside—forty days of dwelling within the temple of self, forty days of reverence for being, of consciousness of new birth.
From Christmas A Story by Solon, Leon V. (Leon Victor)
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.
