illuminate
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English illuminaten, borrowed from Latin illūminātum, supine of illūminō (“lighten, light up, show off”), from in + lūminō (“light up”), from lūmen (“light”). Cognate with Old English lȳman (“to glow, shine”). More at leam.
Pronunciation
Verb
illuminate (third-person singular simple present illuminates, present participle illuminating, simple past and past participle illuminated)
- (transitive) To shine light on something.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- Nero illuminated his gardens with live Christians soaked in tar, and we were now treated to a similar spectacle, probably for the first time since his day, only happily our lamps were not living ones.
- 2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 40:
- A light that is one foot away from the subject's face will completely illuminate the face, but leave the rest of the body softer and darker.
- (transitive) To decorate something with lights.
- (transitive, figurative) To clarify or make something understandable.
- (transitive) To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.
- (transitive, figurative) To make spectacular.
- (intransitive) To glow; to light up.
- 1994, Sylvia Carlson, Verne Carlson, Professional Cameraman's Handbook, →ISBN, page 494:
- Red diode in button illuminates when camera runs at speed set in five-digit speed selector.
- 2011/2012, "Spectrum", written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, performed by Florence and the Machine, released on the album Ceremonials (2011):
- Say my name / and every color illuminates. / We are shining / […]
- (intransitive) To be exposed to light.
- (transitive, military) To direct a radar beam toward.
Synonyms
- (shine light on something): belight, enlighten, illumine; See also Thesaurus:illuminate
- (decorate something with lights): See also Thesaurus:decorate
- (make something understandable): bring home, clarify, elucidate, explicitize, sort out, straighten out
- (decorate the page of a manuscript book): illustrate, quill; See also Thesaurus:decorate
- (to glow; to light up): gleam, illumine, shine; See also Thesaurus:shine
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
illuminate (plural illuminates)
- Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.
Adjective
illuminate (comparative more illuminate, superlative most illuminate)
- (obsolete) enlightened
- February 28 1630, Joseph Hall, The Hypocrite
- do ye see an illuminate elder of the anabaptists rapt in divine ecstasies?
- February 28 1630, Joseph Hall, The Hypocrite
Participle
illuminate
Adjective
illuminate f pl
Verb
illuminate
- inflection of illuminare:
Anagrams
Participle
illūmināte
References
- “illuminate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- illuminate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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