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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lighten.

To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈlaɪ.tn̩/[ˈlaɪtn̩][ˈlaɪʔn̩]
  1. To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.

    transitive
    to lighten an apartment with lamps or gas; to lighten the streets
  2. To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.

    intransitive
  3. To flash lightning, to give off lightning.

    archaic · intransitive
  4. To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.

    transitive
  5. To illuminate with knowledge.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light + -en.

verb/ˈlaɪ.tn̩/[ˈlaɪtn̩][ˈlaɪʔn̩]
  1. To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

    transitive
    Sorrow can be lightened by being openly brought out.
    Many hands lighten the workload.
  2. To make light or lighter in weight.

    transitive
  3. To make less serious or more cheerful.

    transitive
  4. To become light or lighter in weight.

    intransitive
  5. To become less serious or more cheerful.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light + -en.

verb/ˈlaɪ.tn̩/[ˈlaɪtn̩][ˈlaɪʔn̩]
  1. To descend; to light.

Where this word comes from

From light + -en.

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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.