alight
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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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
-
am alightingprogressive
-
are alightingprogressive
-
is alightingprogressive
-
have been alightingperfect progressive
-
has been alightingperfect progressive
Past
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alightedsimple
-
alitsimple
-
had alightedperfect
-
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:
"We came out at about 22:30, when the doors closed, and we walked down the road and it was all quite active with fire, ambulance and police, and building was well alight," Wikberg said.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The second ship, registered in Palau, was set alight by the drone but its Turkish and Indian crew members have been rescued.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Both fires in Nantes spread after a bin was set alight.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
On a summer night alongside the Colorado River, a line of telegraph poles is set alight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
He built a little tent of dead wood and the fire was safety alight.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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
He never alights on an answer, but the search has prompted some of his best music to date.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023
Butler alights on Watergate as a disillusioning American moment, during which “the Method could bring audiences closer than ever to the internal conflicts and pains of living in Nixon’s America.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2022
Her eyes are wide open, searching, and when her gaze alights on Vivian’s face, it is startling in its intensity, stripped of any pretense or convention.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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
Rangers' search for a replacement quickly alighted upon Gerrard, who was of interest to club's American owners in the summer, before a number of issues resulted in him withdrawing from the running.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2025
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
A poor fisherman in a Turkish village was retrieving his net from a lake when he found that a white stork had alighted on his boat.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Pulling on her powerful wings, Frightful sped to the top of the tallest pine and alighted on a slender twig.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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
These days, Lacey divides her time between Brooklyn and Mexico City — during the pandemic, she left a relationship, sold her home and cast about before alighting in Mexico City, almost on a whim.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Zeke asked, watching as Pelicarnassus flew across the playground to the jungle gym, alighting on its highest level.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
