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• illuminati
  illuminati

  plural noun

  persons possessing, or claiming to possess, superior enlightenment.
• Illuminati
  Illuminati

  plural noun

  any of several groups of illuminati, esp in 18th-century France

illuminati

American  

[ih-loo-muh-nah-tee, -nay-tahy] / ɪˌlu məˈnɑ ti, -ˈneɪ taɪ /

plural noun

• illuminato
  singular

1. persons possessing, or claiming to possess, superior enlightenment.

2. (initial capital letter) a name given to different religious societies or sects because of their claim to superior enlightenment.

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Illuminati ¹ British  

/ ɪˌluːmɪˈnɑːtiː /

plural noun

1. any of several groups of illuminati, esp in 18th-century France

2. a group of religious enthusiasts of 16th-century Spain who were persecuted by the Inquisition

3. a masonic sect founded in Bavaria in 1778 claiming that the illuminating grace of Christ resided in it alone

4. a rare name for the Rosicrucians

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illuminati ² British  

/ ɪˌluːmɪˈnɑːtiː /

plural noun

1. a group of persons claiming exceptional enlightenment on some subject, esp religion

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Etymology

Origin of illuminati

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin illūminātī, plural of illūminātus “enlightened”; see illuminate

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

illuminati Illuminati

Several members of the present-day AI illuminati have ties to the university.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

The day we spoke he wore a baseball cap embroidered with the illuminati eye from the Chambers Project logo.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2024

In scathing, often florid language, the report compared the board to a "pyramid scheme," a "self-styled illuminati" and a fish that "rots from the head down."

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2022

He considers himself a leader of what he refers to as the Sweetens Cove illuminati.

From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2017

Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, D'Alembert, and Diderot had founded a new school of universal inquiry, and from their bold investigations and startling theories sprang the society of the illuminati, and the race of thinkers.

From English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Henry Coppee

A common No. 1: an under-one-hour “documentary” titled Illuminati, supposedly produced in 2019 by DOC TV.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2025

He joked, “Shouldn’t this gathering be happening in a volcano’s lair near Zurich? Or are we just open-sourcing the Illuminati now?”

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025

Goodie Mob painted with dark lyrics gleaned from a copy of Milton William Cooper’s Illuminati manifesto “Behold a Pale Horse” that Busta Rhymes gave to the group.

From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2024

House of Illuminati described the event as where "dreams become reality"

From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2024

Then he used a word I’d never heard before: Illuminati.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

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