illuminate.
To shine light on something.
Meaning & usage
To shine light on something.
To decorate something with lights.
To clarify or make something understandable.
To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.
To make spectacular.
To glow; to light up.
To be exposed to light.
To direct a radar beam toward.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English illuminaten, borrowed from Latin illūminātus, perfect passive participle of illūminō (“lighten, light up, show off”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from in + lūminō (“light up”), from lūmen (“light”). Cognate with Old English lȳman (“to glow, shine”). More at leam.
Enlightened, illuminated, made bright.
Enlightened spiritually, divinely taught or inspired; in technical use, converted, baptized.
Learned, erudite.
Where this word comes from
From Latin illūminātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. For sense 3, see also Lumières.
Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.
Where this word comes from
From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.