Enlighten

/ɪnˈlaɪtən/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To supply with light..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To supply with light.
2. (transitive, figurative) To make something clear to (someone); to give knowledge or understanding to.

Example Sentences

The sun enlightens the Earth.

She tried to enlighten them about the rules of the program, but they remained belligerently and self-righteously ignorant.

Care to enlighten me, if you think I'm so benighted?

There was a warning sulkiness in the manner of this speech, which admonished Mr Pecksniff that his dear friend was not to be trifled with or fenced off, and that he must either return a straight–forward reply to his question, or plainly give him to understand that he declined to enlighten him upon the subject to which it referred.

As your reviewer showed, the purpose of the translator and publishers is to help along the labor movement by furnishing a lesson from the past to enlighten the movement of to-day.

I'm in jail for what I hope will be a short stay and really quite lonely. If there are any who would care to correspond, I will be greatly pleased and will try to enlighten any and all to the hardships we have in prison.

Rather than focus on true-to-life drama that might have enlightened viewers, the BBC, frightened by Tory politicians’ threats to its very existence, concentrated its dramatic output on inaccurate historical soap operas, that falsified the view of our past.

Synonyms for enlighten

Antonyms for enlighten

Related Words

Word Forms

• enlightens
• enlightening
• enlightened

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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