illuminating
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- illuminatingly adverb
- nonilluminating adjective
- nonilluminatingly adverb
- unilluminating adjective
Etymology
Origin of illuminating
First recorded in 1555–65; illuminat(e) + -ing 2
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.
These events aren’t illuminating and feel instead like a bleak betrayal.
From Los Angeles Times
With precision and care, the author elegantly chronicles his own shame, envy, boredom, regret and despair, illuminating his experiences with insights from philosophy, psychology, ethnography and history.
Only a faint glow of moonlight spilled through the window, illuminating my bed and the spinning wheel.
From Literature
A rocket blasts off from a launcher, shooting into the sky and illuminating the darkened valley below.
From BBC
This elliptical approach is in part its strength, subtly illuminating how trying to move past one tragedy may bring a family to the precipice of another.
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.
