Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word enlighten. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word enlighten, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say enlighten in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word enlighten you have here. The definition of the word enlighten will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofenlighten, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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.
1904 August 27, John Hossack, “The Mysteries of the People”, in New York Times:
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.
1976 August 21, Donald Dougherty, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 8, page 13:
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.
2016 October 30, Bernie Evans, “The big issue: where the true blame lies for our dangerous politics of hate”, in The Guardian:
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.
Usage notes
This term often carries a negative connotation when someone is underscoring what they see as the hubris of the would-be enlighteners.