# illuminate
## English
### Pronunciation

* (verb) IPA: /ɪˈl(j)umɪneɪt/, /ɪˈl(j)uməneɪt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* (noun, adjective) IPA: /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)
* (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: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

* (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

* transilluminate
* illuminator

##### Related terms

* luminous
* lumens

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### 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)
* (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?
* (figurative) Enlightened spiritually, divinely taught or inspired; in technical use, converted, baptized.
* (archaic) Learned, erudite.

### Etymology 3

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

#### Noun

illuminate (plural illuminates)
* Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.

## Interlingua
### Participle

illuminate
* past participle of illuminar

## Italian
### Adjective

illuminate f pl
* feminine plural of illuminato

### Verb

illuminate
* inflection of illuminare:
** second-person plural present indicative
** second-person plural imperative
** feminine plural past participle

### Anagrams

* alluminite

## Latin
### Participle

illūmināte
* 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.