brighten
[ brahyt-n ]
/ ˈbraɪt n /
verb (used with or without object)
to become or make bright or brighter.
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RELATED WORDS
enliven, lighten, illuminate, improve, illumine, gleam, burnish, polish, kindle, intensify, gladden, cheer, encourage, hearten
Nearby words
- bright-blindness,
- bright-eyed,
- bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,
- bright-field,
- bright-line spectrum,
- brightener,
- brightening agent,
- brightline,
- brightline spectrum,
- brightly
Origin of brighten
SYNONYMS FOR brighten
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for brighten
brighten
/ (ˈbraɪtən) /
verb
to make or become bright or brighter
to make or become cheerful
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
brighten
Old English *beorhtnian "to make bright" (see bright (adj.) + -en (1)). Intransitive sense, "to become brighter," attested from c.1300. Figurative use from 1590s. Related: Brightened; brightening.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper