illuminate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to supply or brighten with light; light up.
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to make lucid or clear; throw light on (a subject).
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to decorate with lights, as in celebration.
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to enlighten, as with knowledge.
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to make resplendent or illustrious.
A smile illuminated her face.
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to decorate (a manuscript, book, etc.) with colors and gold or silver, as was often done in the Middle Ages.
verb (used without object)
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to display lights, as in celebration.
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to become illuminated.
adjective
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Archaic. illuminated.
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Obsolete. enlightened.
noun
verb
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(tr) to throw light in or into; light up
to illuminate a room
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(tr) to make easily understood; clarify
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to adorn, decorate, or be decorated with lights
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(tr) to decorate (a letter, page, etc) by the application of colours, gold, or silver
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(intr) to become lighted up
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- illuminatingly adverb
- illuminative adjective
- illuminator noun
- preilluminate verb (used with object)
- reilluminate verb
- semi-illuminated adjective
- unilluminated adjective
Etymology
Origin of illuminate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin illūminātus, past participle of illūmināre “to light up, brighten”; illumine ( def. ), -ate 1 ( def. )
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.
They quickly became my heroes, and deserved to be illuminated as inspirations to others.
From Los Angeles Times
Musicians illuminated stages with bell-bottom jeans, platform shoes and colourful headbands.
From BBC
If you want to challenge your boss, try raising thoughtful, nonconfrontational questions that illuminate risks or unintended consequences of a plan or decision.
"These findings illuminate how marine ecosystems developed through intense trophic competition and shaped the diversity we see today," added Hans Larsson, co-author of the study and Professor in the Department of Biology.
From Science Daily
He would become a pre-eminent scholar of disasters and spend the rest of his long career illuminating the corrosive, collective traumas left in their wake.
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.
