illuminate
Other forms: illuminated; illuminating; illuminates
To illuminate is to light up — with physical light or with an idea. A spotlight might illuminate an actor on stage, and a good chemistry teacher might illuminate students with a lesson on the atomic structure of hydrogen.
Originally, the verb illuminate referred to decorating handwritten manuscripts with bright lettering or pictures. Monks illuminated manuscripts with colors like gold, silver, bright red, and blue. Nowadays you can illuminate anything in the dark — either literally or figuratively. If you are afraid of the dark, illuminate your bedroom. In the dark when it comes to organic chemistry? Get an illuminating tutor.
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make lighter or brighter
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types:
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floodlight
illuminate with floodlights
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spotlight
illuminate with a spotlight, as in the theater
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type of:
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lighten, lighten up
become lighter
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floodlight
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make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear
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synonyms:
clear, clear up, crystalise, crystalize, crystallise, crystallize, elucidate, enlighten, shed light on, sort out, straighten out
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add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts)
/ɪˌluməˈneɪt/
/ɪˈlumɪneɪt/
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Copy citationVocabulary lists containing illuminate
Neel, a young Bengali boy, searches his island home to find a tiger cub and rescue it from a man who hopes to sell it on the black market.
After twelve-year-old Jake accidentally eats ingestible information pills that he mistakes for jelly beans, he becomes the smartest kid in the world and must use his new brain power to help save his middle school from the evil vice principals' dastardly plot.
Fred is your average, lovable dog who looks like his favorite hero, Duke, on the crime-fighting hit show Dog Squad. When Duke needs a stand-in, Fred fills in for him and discovers that Dog Squad action doesn't always stop on the screen.
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