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Synonyms

lighten up

Idioms  

  1. Become or cause to become less serious or gloomy, and more cheerful. For example, Lighten up, Sam—it'll turn out all right. This slangy expression transfers reducing a physical weight to a change of mood or attitude.

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.

See Examples For:

That isn’t to say that trading activity doesn’t lighten up during the summer months.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026

If individual investors and large institutions collectively decide to lighten up on their dollars, it will leave a mark.

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

Or did the embrace of “Rocky” and “Jaws” mean that audiences wanted their movies to lighten up?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

What’s more, Bridges expresses gratitude for his wife’s frequent reminders to lighten up and have fun.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025

The mood doesn’t lighten up until Mom brings out the peach cobbler that Lee Lee and I made.

From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson

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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.

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