alight
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to dismount from a horse, descend from a vehicle, etc.
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to settle or stay after descending.
The bird alighted on the tree.
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to encounter or notice something accidentally.
adverb
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provided with light; lighted up.
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on fire; burning.
verb
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(usually foll by from) to step out (of) or get down (from)
to alight from a taxi
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to come to rest; settle; land
a thrush alighted on the wall
adjective
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burning; on fire
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illuminated; lit up
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have alitperfect
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has alightedperfect 3rd person singular
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have alightedperfect
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has alitperfect 3rd person singular
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are alightingprogressive
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is alightingprogressive 3rd person singular
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alightingparticiple
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alightssingular 3rd person
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has been alightingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been alightingperfect progressive
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am alightingprogressive 1st person singular
Past
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had alightedperfect
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had alitperfect
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had been alightingperfect progressive
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were alightingprogressive plural
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alightedsimple
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was alightingprogressive singular
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alitparticiple
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alitsimple
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alightedparticiple
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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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.
