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.
It’s a text that can be quite illuminating.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr. Cannadine, a distinguished British historian, does not go in for color or fun or illuminating anecdotes.
The first firework illuminated the sky, leaving a waterfall of spangled light.
From Literature
I could see the path of light he had talked about, illuminated from within and stretching from one end of the sky to the other.
From Literature
Gates has assembled a stimulating, illuminating, maddening, saddening, but often inspiring, story of their relations with the world and one another.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
