alight
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
alights,
present (3rd person singular)
-
alighted,
past participle, past
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alit,
past participle, past
-
alighting
present participle
-
to dismount from a horse, descend from a vehicle, etc.
-
to settle or stay after descending.
The bird alighted on the tree.
-
to encounter or notice something accidentally.
adverb
-
provided with light; lighted up.
-
on fire; burning.
verb
-
(usually foll by from) to step out (of) or get down (from)
to alight from a taxi
-
to come to rest; settle; land
a thrush alighted on the wall
adjective
-
burning; on fire
-
illuminated; lit up
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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alightsimple
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alightssimple
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have alightedperfect
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have alitperfect
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has alightedperfect
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has alitperfect
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am alightingprogressive
-
are alightingprogressive
-
is alightingprogressive
-
have been alightingperfect progressive
-
has been alightingperfect progressive
Past
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alightedsimple
-
alitsimple
-
had alightedperfect
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had alitperfect
-
was alightingprogressive
-
were alightingprogressive
-
had been alightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of alight1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English alighten, Old English ālīhtan; equivalent to a- 3 + light 3 )
Origin of alight2
First recorded before 1000; originally past participle of alight “to light up,” Middle English alihten, Old English onlīhtan, equivalent to a- 1 + light 1 )
Explanation
The word alight has two distinct meanings: it can mean coming down or settling in a delicate manner, such as a bird perching, or it can be a rather poetic way to describe something that’s on fire (or “afire”). Just as the word alight has two distinct grammatical forms and meanings, it has two distinct beginnings in the Old English. That period’s word ālīhtan had an original meaning of dismounting, or lightening the load on the horse, and so is the ancestor of the verb we use today that means "to settle or perch." Meanwhile, the word onlīhtan (see the different spelling?) of that same time meant to be on fire, which became our adjectival use of the word.
Vocabulary lists containing alight
Fahrenheit 451
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Lord of the Flies
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Mythology
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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:
The blonde executive assistant to the president was then mentioned by a Democratic senate hopeful, in comments that set the internet alight -- and incensed the White House.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Witnesses said the fire may have been started by a power line that fell and set scrubland alight but there was no official confirmation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
The cathedral, set alight in the overnight attacks, was almost completely destroyed during World War II and rebuilt only in the 1990s.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
He found a city rebuilding itself: a functioning airport, paved roads some lined with restaurants and street lighting keeping once-feared neighbourhoods alight after dark.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
Her eyes were alight as she grabbed his shoulders with both hands and shook him.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Lindsay Hale’s husband, Kai, has been dead for only 12 weeks when she alights in a cold winter landscape that she no longer recognizes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
McCartney’s musical time machine eventually alights on “Salesman Saint,” a reference to his father, Jim Mac, who died in 1976.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
When the setting sun in the west alights the skyscraper windows in the city with a glow, we call out to each other when we’re home: “It’s glow time!”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
He never alights on an answer, but the search has prompted some of his best music to date.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023
The female alights on the top of a dead tree, panting from fatigue and fear.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
While I was visiting Cindy a few days later, a young cardinal alighted at the feeder and met our gaze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The face the London tube driver's gaze alighted on looked uncannily like his own.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2026
Not surprisingly, by the time that the couple alighted at the Astrodome in 1974, they were headed for divorce proceedings.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2024
Finally, one perched on a nearby tree while the other alighted on the deck.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
As soon as he saw the Mark come up, he alighted a little way out in the field, halfway between the undergrowth and the sentry line, and began pecking about in the grass.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Earlier this year, China’s social media was alit with videos of jobless university graduates visiting temples to seek the blessings of the gods.
From Reuters ● Sep. 30, 2023
Just as the animal was nearly out of sight, it flew back upriver, alit on the water, and floated back down—over and over again.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 15, 2023
More than 75,000 spectators attended the Matildas’ quarterfinal victory and the Sydney Opera House was alit in the yellow and green team colors.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
But of all the miracle works performed by the McDonald Corporation, you have alit upon two of the finest.
From Fox News ● Sep. 3, 2020
A hawk alit upon the hayloft railing and was unseated unceremoniously when a raven landed nearly on top of it.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Appalled by the incomprehensible waste—Hiroshima was still weeks away—he searched for precedent in myth and antiquity, alighting at once on the North African city of Carthage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Transport officials urged fans to travel by tram to St Peter's Square and Victoria but to avoid alighting at Deansgate.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2023
Visitors never forgot the roar of the big birds alighting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
Instead of arriving overland, the symbolic flame alighting the 2024 Paris Games will take to the seas from its birthplace in Greece, arriving aboard a three-masted tall ship in the French port of Marseille.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
Gladys's gaze wandered around the room, taking in the clutter of new toys before alighting fondly on the shelf.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
