- illuminate
- illuminate, illumine, light, lighten, enlighten, illustrate are comparable when meaning to fill with light or to throw light upon.Illuminate implies the use of a bright light or of something comparable to it in such a way that what is dark is made bright or what is complicated, obscure, or vague is made clear{
the oblique band of sunlight . . . illuminated her as her presence illuminated the heath— Hardy
}{the greatest truths are perhaps those which being simple in themselves illuminate a large and complex body of knowledge— Alexander
}{he longed ... to hear more about the life of which her careless words had given him so illuminating a glimpse— Wharton
}Illumine is chiefly literary or poetical for illuminate{what in me is dark illumine— Milton
}{no lurid fire of hell or human passion illumines their scenes— Eliot
}Light, lighten, and enlighten carry a stronger implication of providing with light for clear seeing than of throwing a light upon.Light is the most consistently literal of these terms, though it often carries a suggestion of brightening the way of one who otherwise might stumble or go astray{the room was brilliantly lighted
}{all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death— Shak.
}{seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise— Pope
}{the old man scratched a match, the spark lit up the keyhole of 'a door— Lowell
}Lighten, like light, basically implies a making brighter or a lessening of darkness, but it has more extended and poetic use{lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord— Book of Common Prayer
}{I would not convey the thought that an opinion is the worse for being lightened by a smile— Cardozo
}Enlighten, which has almost wholly lost its basic meaning of to make physically light or bright, is common when filling with intellectual or spiritual light is implied{the Chinese philosopher . . . needed no discovery of science to enlighten him; that enlightenment was part of his philosophy, his religion— Binyon
}Sometimes the term implies that one has been supplied with information necessary to the understanding of something{in her simplicity she did not know what it [her mistake] was, till a hint from a nodding acquaintance enlightened her— Hardy
}and sometimes it implies sufficient education and experience to enable one to meet all needs and, especially in the adjective enlightened, to remove or overcome superstition, prejudice, or intolerance{the civilized and en-lightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence— Taney
}Illustrate (see also EXEMPLIFY) is somewhat rare in a sense which approaches that of illuminate and in which it suggests the shedding of luster rather than of light, embellishment rather than elucidation, and distinct exhibition rather than a bringing into view{the poet or philosopher illustrates his age and country by the efforts of a single mind— Gibbon
}{narrow of vision but steadfast to principles, they fronted life resolutely, honoring and illustrating the supreme worth of freedom— Repplier
}Antonyms: darken, obscureContrasted words: complicate, involve (see corresponding adjectives at COMPLEX)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
