illuminate

present singular third person illuminates · participle present illuminating · participle past illuminated · past illuminated

1. transitiveTo shine light on something.

   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.

   2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 40

   2 more examples

   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.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   Riding along the busy, narrow roads of Bali on her scooter with the sun illuminating her face, Victoria Kjos has a clear destination in sight — the beach.

   2025 July 31, Tamara Hardingham-Gill, “‘Everyone I know in the US who has a conscience wants to leave’: Why this American woman relocated to Bali”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2025

   Synonyms: belight

2. transitiveTo decorate something with lights.
3. figurativelytransitiveTo clarify or make something understandable.

   The situation, as it was, made it more difficult for him to leave. Yet it illuminated the very reasons why he had to go.

   1986, Craig G. Harris, “Weekend Plans”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 138

   Synonyms: bring home, clarify, elucidate, explicitize, sort out, straighten out

4. transitiveTo decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.

   Synonyms: illustrate

5. figurativelytransitiveTo make spectacular.

   Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.

   2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport

6. intransitiveTo glow; to light up.

   Say my name / and every color illuminates. / We are shining / […]

   2011/2012, "Spectrum", written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, performed by Florence and the Machine, released on the album Ceremonials (2011)

   1 more example

   Red diode in button illuminates when camera runs at speed set in five-digit speed selector.

   1994, Sylvia Carlson, Verne Carlson, Professional Cameraman's Handbook, →ISBN, page 494

   Synonyms: gleam

7. intransitiveTo be exposed to light.
8. transitivegovernmentTo direct a radar beam toward.

comparative more illuminate · superlative most illuminate

1. obsoleteEnlightened, illuminated, made bright.

   February 28 1630, Joseph Hall, The Hypocrite do ye see an illuminate elder of the anabaptists rapt in divine ecstasies?

2. figurativelyEnlightened spiritually, divinely taught or inspired; in technical use, converted, baptized.
3. archaicLearned, erudite.

plural illuminates

1. Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.