illumine

American  

[ih-loo-min] / ɪˈlu mɪn /

verb (used with or without object)

illumined, illumining

1. to illuminate.

---

illumine British  

/ ɪˈluːmɪn /

verb

1. a literary word for illuminate

---

Other Word Forms

• illuminable adjective
• self-illumined adjective

Etymology

Origin of illumine

1300–50; Middle English illuminen < Latin illūmināre to light up, equivalent to il- il- ¹ + lūmin- (stem of lūmen ) light + -ā- thematic vowel + -re infinitive suffix

Explanation

To illumine is to shine a light on something, literally or figuratively. Your desk lamp might illumine the page of your book, while the words you're reading illumine your mind. This literary term is a more poetic way of saying "illuminate," though its original meaning was the figurative "enlighten spiritually." It's a graceful verb to use when you're talking about light that shines or glows: "The dancing candlelight cheerfully illumines the dim room." It's also useful for describing ideas that spark an intellectual or spiritual understanding: "It's the first time I've read philosophy that truly illumines my perception."

Example Sentences

“She is the one of course that I am trying to get. … To mark her off, to describe, to illumine, to celebrate, to get rid of her.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2024

Those “if”s, those two counterfactuals, help illumine the precise borders of the crime.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 17, 2019

But Ms. Fairchild’s social media post guides us to the gold at its heart: Ms. McBride brings “nuggets of wisdom” about what Balanchine said that illumine a ballet that Ms. Fairchild has already loved dancing.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2018

It’s not quite the case that the people Faye meets illumine various facets of Faye herself—she remains a cipher, however much we might want to speculate about her.

From Slate • Jan. 23, 2017

A sun that was to illumine a world to come.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes