light#

light vb 1 Light, kindle, ignite, fire basically mean to set something burning or on fire.

Light (see also ILLUMINATE), when it takes as its subject the agent or agency, usually implies such an end of the action as illumination

{

she lighted the lamps

}

or heating

{

he will light a fire in the fireplace

}

or smoking

{

he lit his cigar

}

Kindle often connotes difficulty or slowness in setting combustible materials (as wood, straw, or paper) afire; it is therefore the appropriate word when what is to burn requires special preparation or does not at once burst into flame

{

using kerosene to kindle the damp wood

}

{

a carelessly thrown match kindled one of the worst forest fires in the state's history

}

{

bonfires were kindled on the top of every hill

}

Ignite is not only much more common in technical than in popular use but usually shows a difference in meaning. In technical use ignite sometimes implies heating of a substance until it glows or becomes incandescent

{

when the electric current is turned on, it ignites the tungsten filaments in the bulb

}

but it more often implies the placing of a small flame or spark (as an electric spark) in direct or indirect contact with a flammable substance (as gasoline, fuel oil, or gunpowder) so as to produce its combustion

{

ignite the mixture in the cylinder of an internal- combustion engine

}

In more general use, ignite varies little from kindle except in being more frequently employed in reference to explosives or highly flammable substances.

Fire suggests blazing and rapid combustion of what is set on fire; it is typically used in respect to something that lights easily and burns fiercely

{

a lighted match was sufficient to fire the haystack

}

{

the turnkey fired the little pile, which blazed high and hot— Dickens

}

All of these words have extended use.

Light in such use is purely a figure of speech

{

a quick animation lit her face— C. F. Cushman

}

while kindle implies an exciting, arousing, or stimulating

{

real intellectual interest . . . can be kindled ... by a master who really loves and believes in his subject— Inge

}

{

armies cannot be raised by nations or parties unless the rage of the people is first kindled by lies and name-calling— Kenneth Roberts

}

and ignite implies a stirring up into activity

{

that genius for igniting others essential to all great teachers— J. M. Brown

}

{

the idea of the rising, of Irish freedom, of freedom everywhere ignites him and begins to consume him— S. R. L.

}

Fire implies an inspiring with strong passion, ardent desire, or intense zeal and is usually chosen when the agent or agency enables or induces energetic activity

{

the nations of Europe were fired with boundless expectation— Johnson

}

{

the subject . . . had fired her imagination— Jan Struther

}

2 lighten, *illuminate, illumine, enlighten, illustrate

light adj *easy, simple, facile, effortless, smooth

Analogous words: slight (see THIN): trivial, trifling, *petty, puny

Antonyms: heavy: arduous: burdensome

Contrasted words: difficult, *hard: *onerous, oppressive, exacting: rigorous, stringent (see rigid)