illumination

[ih-loo-muh-ney-shuhn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR illumination ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an act or instance of illuminating.

the fact or condition of being illuminated.

a decoration of lights, usually colored lights.

Sometimes illuminations. an entertainment, display, or celebration using lights as a major feature or decoration.

intellectual or spiritual enlightenment.

Also called illuminance, intensity of illumination. Optics. the intensity of light falling at a given place on a lighted surface; the luminous flux incident per unit area, expressed in lumens per unit of area.

a supply of light: a source of illumination.

decoration of a manuscript or book with a painted design in color, gold, etc.

a design used in such decoration.

Origin of illumination

1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin illūminātiōn- (stem of illūminātiō) spiritual enlightenment (Latin: illustriousness, glory) See illuminate, -ion

Related formsil·lu·mi·na·tion·al, adjectivenon·il·lu·mi·na·tion, nounpre·il·lu·mi·na·tion, nounre·il·lu·mi·na·tion, noun

Synonyms for illumination

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR illumination ON THESAURUS.COM

5. knowledge, revelation, insight, wisdom.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for illumination

brightness, enlightenment, radiance, beam, gleam, flash, brilliance, lighting, flame, ray, lights, information, instruction, clarification, revelation, insight, perception, edification, teaching, education

Examples from the Web for illumination

Contemporary Examples of illumination

The book is fascinating partly for its illumination of the origins of current conventions.
How the News Business Found Its Footing
Nick Romeo
June 22, 2014
Rather than selective filtering for purposes of justification, information is instead used as the fuel for illumination.
What Hockey Players Can Teach our Toothless Politicians
Dave Maney
April 29, 2014
Consider the opening of the first illumination, “After the Flood:”
When Your Hero’s an SOB
Bruce Duffy
August 1, 2011
Here are five of my favorite moments of illumination from the book.
Cheap Therapy
Neil Strauss
March 21, 2011

Historical Examples of illumination

The Leopard Woman stood just within the circle of illumination.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
By experiment he found that at a distance of a foot or so the illumination registered.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
Yet perhaps it was the illumination which gave so gloomy a cast to Amalia's features.
Casanova's Homecoming
Arthur Schnitzler
The illumination had seemed brilliant, now suddenly it was pale and dim.
Two Thousand Miles Below
Charles Willard Diffin
Then, with a brazil nut candle for illumination, he began to write.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930
Various

British Dictionary definitions for illumination

illumination

noun

the act of illuminating or the state of being illuminated

a source of light

(often plural) mainly British a light or lights, esp coloured lights, used as decoration in streets, parks, etc

spiritual or intellectual enlightenment; insight or understanding

the act of making understood; clarification

decoration in colours, gold, or silver used on some manuscripts or printed works

physics another name (not in technical usage) for illuminance

Derived Formsilluminational, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for illumination

late 14c., "spiritual enlightenment," from Latin illuminationem (nominative illuminatio), from past participle stem of illuminare "to throw into light, make bright, light up;" figuratively "to set off, illustrate," from assimilated form of in- "in, into" (see in- (2)) + lumen (genitive luminis) "light," related to lucere "to shine" (see light (n.)). Meaning "action of lighting" is from 1560s.