enlightenment

American  

[en-lahyt-n-muhnt] / ɛnˈlaɪt n mənt /

noun

1. the act of enlightening.

2. the state of being enlightened.

   to live in spiritual enlightenment.

3. (usually initial capital letter) prajna.

4. the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and by innovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine.

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Enlightenment ¹ British  

/ ɪnˈlaɪtənmənt /

noun

1. an 18th-century philosophical movement stressing the importance of reason and the critical reappraisal of existing ideas and social institutions

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enlightenment ² British  

/ ɪnˈlaɪtənmənt /

noun

1. the act or means of enlightening or the state of being enlightened

2. Buddhism the awakening to ultimate truth by which man is freed from the endless cycle of personal reincarnations to which all men are otherwise subject

3. Hinduism a state of transcendent divine experience represented by Vishnu: regarded as a goal of all religion

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Enlightenment Cultural  

1. An intellectual movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked by a celebration of the powers of human reason, a keen interest in science, the promotion of religious toleration, and a desire to construct governments free of tyranny. Some of the major figures of the Enlightenment were David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, the Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire.

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Other Word Forms

• preenlightenment noun
• reenlightenment noun

Etymology

Origin of enlightenment

First recorded in 1660–70; enlighten + -ment

Example Sentences

But “The Singing Word: 168 Years of Poetry from The Atlantic” is lovely, both as a collection and in the pleasure and enlightenment readers will derive from individual poems.

From The Wall Street Journal

But if history is any guide, it means a new enlightenment is overdue.

From The Wall Street Journal

That was not, in Hobsbawm’s analysis, a straight-up clash between good and evil or enlightenment and darkness; he was a non-dogmatic Marxist, always attuned to the nuanced dialectical relationship between historical forces.

From Salon

His involvement grew serious after her death from cancer in 1972, and in “The Snow Leopard” his customarily graceful observations of nature shimmer with mystical meditations on grief, transcendence and enlightenment.

From The Wall Street Journal

The “Monkey King” premiere took place the day after the final performance of Matthew Ozawa’s thoughtful new production of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” a very different tale about ignorance and enlightenment.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• awareness
• civilization
• insight
• literacy
• sophistication
• understanding
• wisdom