light bulb moment
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of light bulb moment
C20: from the cartoon image of a light bulb lighting up above a character's head when he or she has an idea
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.
On the drive home, Scanlon, 33, had a light bulb moment: “What I love doing is something most people find totally overwhelming and exhausting,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
"The filters would be very good insulation, and someone had a light bulb moment and probably bought this as scrap off their manager," he said.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
A light bulb moment for a lot of my actors is, I share Russian singing and music, which reflects the speaking rhythms.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2021
The light bulb moment came when the woman who leads my running group, Helen McCaffrey Birney, told us over Zoom that she just doesn’t always wear clean clothes to run.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2021
FDR's Tennessee Valley Authority program is instructive: You win, make things better for people, and wait for the light bulb moment to arrive.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2021
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.
