brighten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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brightens,
present (3rd person singular)
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brightened,
past participle, past
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brightening
present participle
verb
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to make or become bright or brighter
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to make or become cheerful
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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brightensimple
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brightenssimple
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have brightenedperfect
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has brightenedperfect
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am brighteningprogressive
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are brighteningprogressive
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is brighteningprogressive
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have been brighteningperfect progressive
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has been brighteningperfect progressive
Past
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brightenedsimple
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had brightenedperfect
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was brighteningprogressive
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were brighteningprogressive
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had been brighteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of brighten
First recorded in 1250–1300, brighten is from the Middle English word brightnen. See bright, -en 1
Explanation
To brighten is to make something lighter, the way you brighten your back yard with glowing patio lights or brighten up your gloomy bedroom by painting the walls yellow. When the sun comes out after several rainy days, it brightens your house and the walk to school, but it can also brighten your mood. This verb is perfect for both ways of making things light and cheerful — adding something that emits light or lending a happy or hopeful mood to a situation. Your best friend may be so funny and positive that they brighten a room just by walking in.
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 idea behind the mural was to brighten up the village of around 1,500 people, so artist Steve Jenkins was enlisted.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Rather than trying to brighten the room, he leaned into the moodiness by buying inexpensive, USB battery-powered spotlights that are mounted on the ceiling with magnets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The acid should be present enough to brighten the beans and keep the dish from feeling heavy, but not so assertive that it dominates.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
With Tehran and Washington now having agreed a deal, which is due to be signed Friday in Switzerland, hopes are growing that the outlook will brighten.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Her face brighten up like somebody turnt on a lamp in front of a mirror.
From "Girls Like Us" by Gail Giles
He said he had seen a few of the cranes at the site over the years which "always brightens up your day".
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
“With the record high gold prices, stronger sales volume growth brightens its earnings growth outlook,” the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
There’s a whisper of lemon or lime that brightens without shouting, and sugar that amplifies sweetness rather than dominating it, leaving the peach as the undeniable star.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
Each fall, the Taurid meteor shower brightens the night sky from late October through early November.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2025
His face brightens when he sees me, which makes my stomach feel fizzy.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Her work focused on periods when the galaxy's X-ray output brightened in flares and on how the X-ray signal evolved in the hours afterward.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
"She was always cheerful, positive and kind, with a smile on her face and a warmth that brightened the day of those around her," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
The company’s prospects brightened at the end of that year when it completed its first-ever controlled landing of a Falcon 9 rocket, paving the way for reusable rockets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
It will arrive after a fairly quiet year for IPOs that was brightened last week when Cerebras Systems, a Sunnyvale company that makes semiconductors for AI supercomputers, went public.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
Except, just like that, the sword brightened from black to its usual dull white, like the sun emerging from behind a cloud.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
A street artist known as the "Minion Man" has turned his attention to brightening up his area's dirty and vandalised street cabinets.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Already, the technical picture for stocks is brightening, signaling that the rebound in chip stocks and the broader momentum factor seen this week might continue, Kettern wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
Marine cloud brightening has often been proposed for the eastern sides of ocean basins because of its strong cooling potential.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
The ZEW survey showed expectations brightening in Germany’s automotive sector, a key energy-intensive industry in Europe’s largest economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
The little girl only needs a few small refreshments—a new coat of skin paste, an eye brightening, reinforcement of her hair texture.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
