illuminate
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]- IPA(key): /ɪˈl(j)umɪneɪt/, /ɪˈl(j)uməneɪt/ (verb)
(verb)Audio (US): (file) - IPA(key): /ɪˈl(j)umɪnət/ (noun, adjective)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]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.
- 1984 December 8, Ellen Grabiner, “A Candid Portrait of Choosing Children”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 21, page 10:
- Jan and Maidi, a lesbian couple, do a very funny routine illuminating the simplicity of the alternative fertilization process and even go so far as to recommend the most suitable receptacles for the semen: marinated artichoke heart jars.
- (transitive) To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.
- (transitive, figurative) To make spectacular.
- 2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.
- (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
[edit]- (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
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]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
[edit]illuminate (plural illuminates)
- Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.
Adjective
[edit]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
Interlingua
[edit]Participle
[edit]illuminate
Italian
[edit]Adjective
[edit]illuminate f pl
Verb
[edit]illuminate
- inflection of illuminare:
Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Participle
[edit]illūmināte
References
[edit]- “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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- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
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- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
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- en:Military
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