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illuminate

/ɪˈl(j)umɪneɪt/verb4 syllables

Illuminate means: make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear.

Synonyms for illuminate30

verb, as in make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear

clear, clear up, shed light on, crystallize, crystallise, crystalize, crystalise, straighten out, sort out, enlighten, elucidate

verb, as in introduce light into

light, illume, illumine, light up

also used for illuminate

belight, bring home, clarify, explicitize, illustrate, gleam, quill, shine, alight, beshine, bright, fire, irradiate, lighten, luster

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does illuminate mean?3

verb

1

make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear“Could you clarify these remarks?”

2

introduce light into“This lamp lightens the room a bit”

3

add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts)

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Illuminate in a sentence

  • Men of genius are meteors destined to burn in order to illuminate their century.Scott
  • I use a flashlight to illuminate dark areas.corvard
  • The forest was illuminate​d by a lantern.Yanahma
  • The sun started to come out and illuminate the sky.Amastan
  • I illuminate the paths of those in my presence.Nuel
  • The mission’s observations will help illuminate two of the biggest cosmic puzzles: dark energy and dark matter.Hybrid
  • I illuminate the path for others.Nuel
  • I illuminate the world around me.Nuel

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of illuminate

as a verb

past tense
illuminated
present participle
illuminating
third-person singular
illuminates
past participle
illuminated