illuminative
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of illuminative
First recorded in 1635–45; illuminate + -ive
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.
Strauss, who also adapted “Nine Perfect Strangers,” transforms Gibson's story into a fast-paced, funny and illuminative parable that, in its unique way, explains how fringe disinformation became our reality, and how the ludicrous became plausible.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025
Stein’s career is so accomplished that some stories inevitably get left out, but the ones he puts in aren’t always illuminative.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 13, 2018
Balancing the two extremes might make for an interesting and illuminative exercise.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2018
The material is what gives street signs and lane markings their illuminative properties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2017
In celestial science especially, facts that appear subversive are often the most illuminative, and the prospect of its advance widens and brightens with each divagation enforced or permitted from the strait paths of rigid theory.
From A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition by Clerke, Agnes M. (Agnes Mary)
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.
