illuminate

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English

WOTD – 4 November 2006

Pronunciation

  • (verb) IPA(key): /ɪˈl(j)umɪneɪt/, /ɪˈl(j)uməneɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (noun, adjective) IPA(key): /ɪˈl(j)umɪnət/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English illuminaten, borrowed from Latin illūminātus, perfect passive participle of illūminō (“lighten, light up, show off”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from in +‎ lūminō (“light up”), from lūmen (“light”). Cognate with Old English lȳman (“to glow, shine”). More at leam.

Verb

illuminate (third-person singular simple present illuminates, present participle illuminating, simple past and past participle illuminated)

  1. (transitive) To shine light on something.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H 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.
  2. (transitive) To decorate something with lights.
  3. (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.
  4. (transitive) To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.
  5. (transitive, figurative) To make spectacular.
    • 2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.
  6. (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 /
  7. (intransitive) To be exposed to light.
  8. (transitive, military) To direct a radar beam toward.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs
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Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Latin illūminātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. For sense 3, see also Lumières.

Adjective

illuminate (comparative more illuminate, superlative most illuminate)

  1. (obsolete) Enlightened, illuminated, made bright.
    • February 28 1630, Joseph Hall, The Hypocrite
      do ye see an illuminate elder of the anabaptists rapt in divine ecstasies?
  2. (figurative) Enlightened spiritually, divinely taught or inspired; in technical use, converted, baptized.
  3. (archaic) Learned, erudite.

Etymology 3

From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.

Noun

illuminate (plural illuminates)

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

Interlingua

Participle

illuminate

  1. past participle of illuminar

Italian

Adjective

illuminate f pl

  1. feminine plural of illuminato

Verb

illuminate

  1. inflection of illuminare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative
    3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

illūmināte

  1. vocative masculine singular of illūminātus

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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