illumination

American  

[ih-loo-muh-ney-shuhn] / ɪˌlu məˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

• illuminations
  plural

1. an act or instance of illuminating.

2. the fact or condition of being illuminated.

3. a decoration of lights, usually colored lights.

4. Sometimes illuminations. an entertainment, display, or celebration using lights as a major feature or decoration.

5. intellectual or spiritual enlightenment.

   Synonyms:

   wisdom, insight, revelation, knowledge

6. Also called illuminance.  Also called intensity of illumination.  Optics. the intensity of light falling at a given place on a lighted surface; the luminous flux incident per unit area, expressed in lumens per unit of area.

7. a supply of light.

   a source of illumination.

8. decoration of a manuscript or book with a painted design in color, gold, etc.

9. a design used in such decoration.

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illumination British  

/ ɪˌluːmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of illuminating or the state of being illuminated

2. a source of light

3. (often plural) a light or lights, esp coloured lights, used as decoration in streets, parks, etc

4. spiritual or intellectual enlightenment; insight or understanding

5. the act of making understood; clarification

6. decoration in colours, gold, or silver used on some manuscripts or printed works

7. physics another name (not in technical usage) for illuminance

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonillumination
  noun
• preillumination
  noun
• reillumination
  noun
• illuminational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• illuminations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of illumination

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Medieval Latin illūminātiōn-, stem of illūminātiō “spiritual enlightenment,” from Latin: “illustriousness, glory”; see illuminate ( def. ), -ion ( def. )

Explanation

Illumination is light. Kids up past their bedtimes have been known to read entire books under their covers using only the illumination from a flashlight. Use the noun illumination to talk about light, like the illumination of the moon on the surface of a lake. Illumination can also refer to an understanding or a spiritual awareness, like when a mystery of your faith suddenly makes sense to you. The Latin root is illuminationem, "throw into light" — you can picture the light bulb over a person's head in a cartoon to remember the various meaning of illumination.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

illumination illuminations

Despite the high degree of coverage, "even 7% of the sun will still give quite a degree of illumination," he explained.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Actually, the fineness of the design is probably best appreciated at night, with its full plumage of illumination switched on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

The camera seemed delighted by the illumination of all those cellphones, but mostly ignored the overhead Jumbotron, which, when I go to big shows, tends to be the only thing I wind up watching.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026

Even Apollo astronauts didn't see the Orientale basin completely because of their orbit and illumination conditions.

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026

Unferth slapped his side as a sudden illumination came into the dark chamber of his thought.

From "Beowulf: A New Telling" by Robert Nye

Signer John Adams hoped that future generations would celebrate America’s birthday with “bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

A neighbour of Sir David and Lady Victoria Beckham has compared plans to install pond lighting at the couple's Cotswolds home to the Blackpool illuminations.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026

"Traditionally we have decorative lighting and illuminations on Independence Day and other national days, but this time we will refrain from that, as part of the austerity measures," Ahmed told reporters.

From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026

Or, to paraphrase a Virginia Woolf line from “To the Lighthouse” that Rhys invoked earlier: What gets us through are “little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025

The janitors could not use the elevators because Burnham had ordered them turned off after dark to conserve power for the fair’s nightly illuminations.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• brightness