illuminate
verb (used with object)
to supply or brighten with light; light up.
have been illuminating
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present perfect progressiveof illuminate.present perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that began in the past, has continued continuously, and is still in progress.
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.
Three miles of glittering lights should have been illuminating Handsworth's Soho Road this weekend, with 20,000 people expected for the annual Diwali celebrations.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2025
It would have been illuminating, especially under the big-money circumstances, to see it hanging in Brentwood with the three-quarter-length Gainsborough “Portrait of James Christie,” founder of the London auction house that still bears his name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
These analyses have been illuminating, but for the most part, they have not tracked the origins of this strange “verbal tic,” as the “ic” is “hard to pin down with any precision,” as Hertzberg wrote.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2023
But it would have been illuminating had the candidates been prodded, even a little, to define their perspectives on the value of education.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 28, 2016
The conscious color that crept to the boy's forehead should have been illuminating.
From The Road to Understanding by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
