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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

illumination.

The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated.

12 characters5 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɪˌlumɪˈneɪʃən/General-American/ɪˌl(j)umɪˈneɪʃən/Received-Pronunciation
  1. The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated.

    countable · uncountable
    The room was filled with soft illumination from the candles.
  2. Festive decoration of houses or buildings with lights.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Adornment of books and manuscripts with colored illustrations. See illuminate (transitive verb).

    countable · uncountable
  4. Splendour; brightness.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
  5. Enlightening influence; inspiration.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
    The philosopher’s work gave intellectual illumination to many.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *lewk- Proto-Indo-European *-s- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥ Proto-Italic *louksmən Latin lūmen Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin lūminō Latin illūminō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Late Latin illūminātiōbor. Middle French illuminationbor. English illumination Borrowed from Middle French illumination, from Late Latin illūminātiō, from Latin illumino. Equivalent to illuminate + -ion.

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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.