light
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: līt
ipa: /laɪt/
ipa: [laɪt]
ipa: [lɑjt]
ipa: [ɫɐɪt]
ipa: [ləjt]
ipa: [lɑɪt]
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: lite
Forms: form: lights
form: lite
form: lighte
form: lyght
form: lyghte
form: licht
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der.
Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz
Proto-West Germanic *leuht
Old English lēoht
Middle English light
English light
From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from Old English lēoht, from Proto-West Germanic *leuht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“to shine”).
Cognates
*Scots licht (“light”)
*Saterland Frisian Ljoacht, Lucht (“light”)
*West Frisian ljocht (“light”)
*Dutch licht (“light”)
*German Licht (“light”)
*German Low German Licht (“light”)
*Limburgish Leech, Leet, Léït (“light”)
*Luxembourgish Liicht (“light”)
*Vilamovian łicht (“light”)
*Yiddish ליכט (likht, “light”)
*Danish, Norwegian Bokmål lys (“light”)
*Elfdalian liuos (“light”)
*Faroese, Icelandic ljós (“light”)
*Norwegian Nynorsk ljos, ljus, lys (“light”)
*Swedish ljus (“light”)
*Latin lūx (“light”)
*Russian луч (luč, “beam of light”)
*Armenian լույս (luys, “light”)
*Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white”)
*Persian رُخش (roxš).
Senses: examples: text: As you can see, this spacious dining-room gets a lot of light in the mornings.
text: Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
ref: 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
text: When the studio light is on, I am recording my evening show.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye (about 400–750 nanometers); visible light.
examples: text: black light
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye (about 400–750 nanometers); visible light.
Infrared or ultraviolet radiation.
examples: text: Put that light out!
text: And the light ſhineth in darkneſſe, and the darkneſſe compꝛehended it not.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:5:
text: He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A source of illumination.
examples: text: We turned off all the lights and went to sleep.
text: The ceiling lights were off, but I knew the narrow light spilling from the lamp on my bureau would be enough for her to see the pale red marks on my chest, which had been fading for so long they had gone back to being shiny again.
ref: 2016 August 7, Jameson Rich, “The Shirt Stays On”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Nov 2022:
glosses: A source of illumination.
A lightbulb or similar light-emitting device, regardless of whether it is lit.
examples: text: To get to our house, turn right at the third light.
glosses: A source of illumination.
A traffic light, or (by extension) an intersection controlled by traffic lights.
examples: text: Can you throw any light on this problem?
text: He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: Greatly interested in these differences—some of them so great that they led me to seek exchanges of light with Englishmen—I looked for some work that would describe and account for them with a show of completeness, and perhaps depict the process of their origin.
ref: [1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC:
glosses: Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.
examples: text: Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits[…], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
text: "Well, there's her statement of her case, and according to her lights, it's a just one. She's got a slum-bred mind."
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 164:
glosses: Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.
examples: text: Picasso was one of the leading lights of the cubist movement.
text: Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A notable person within a specific field or discipline.
qualifier: painting
glosses: The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade.
examples: text: I'm really seeing you in a different light today.
text: Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter.
text: Frequent consideration of a thing […] shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, “Why Christ’s Doctrine was Rejected by the Jews”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
text: Thy ſteddy Temper, Portius,
Can look on Guilt, Rebellion, Fraud, and Cæſar,
In the calm Lights of mild Philoſophy; […]
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:
text: Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say.
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
glosses: A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.
examples: text: "There will, I expect, be many such - possibly whole cities in flames - when we consider how many folk may have dropped with lights in their hands."
ref: 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
glosses: A flame or something used to create fire.
examples: text: Hey, buddy, you got a light?
glosses: A flame or something used to create fire.
A cigarette lighter.
examples: text: a Bengal light
glosses: A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.
examples: text: This facade has eight south-facing lights.
hyponyms: backlight
sidelight
transom
glosses: A window in architecture, carriage design, or motor car design: either the opening itself or the window pane of glass that fills it, if any.
examples: text: The average length of a light on a 15×15 grid is 7 or 8.
qualifier: crosswording
glosses: The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.
glosses: A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
examples: text: The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
glosses: Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.
examples: text: My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eies, it also is gone from me.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 38:10:
glosses: The power of perception by vision: eyesight (sightedness; vision).
examples: text: He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: The brightness of the eye or eyes.
Synonyms: sense: electromagnetic wave perceived by the eye
word: visible light
word: luminance
word: radiation
Hypernyms: topics: physics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
word: electromagnetic radiation
Hyponyms: sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: accidental light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: afterlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: amber light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: anchor light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: ancient lights
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: available light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: bad light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: bedlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Bengal light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: big light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: black light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: blue light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: boob light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: booklight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: brake light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Bude light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: calcium light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: candlelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: catchlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: cherry light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Christmas light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: circularly polarized light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: circular polarized light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: cocklight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: coherent light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: cold light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Coston light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: courtesy light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: crosslight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dark light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dashlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dawnlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: daylight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dome light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: downlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: drop light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Drummond light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dry light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dummy light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: dusklight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: earthlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: electric light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: evenlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: extragalactic background light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Finsen light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: firelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: flamelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: flashlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: floodlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: fog light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: footlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: forelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: gaslight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: ghost light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: glowlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: green light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: grow light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: guidelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: hard light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: hazard light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: headlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Hessdalen light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: houselight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: icelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: idiot light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: immeasurable light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: interlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: isophase light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: jacklight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: key light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: klieg light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: lamplight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: lanternlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: limelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: magnesium light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Marfa light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Min Min light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: mood light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: moonlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: natural light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: navigation light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: neon light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: nightlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: occulting light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: owl light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: oxycalcium light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: oxyhydrogen light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: parking light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: park light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: pendant light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: pilot light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: plane polarized light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: pocket light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: polarized light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: polar lights
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: practical light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: quarry light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: quick light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: range light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: rear light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: red light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: riding light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: ring light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: roof light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: rough service light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: running light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: safelight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: sea-light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: searchlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: skylight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: slow light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: spotlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: stack light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: starlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: stop-and-go light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: stoplight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: streetlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: strobe light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: sunlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: swag light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: synchrotron light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: taillight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: tally light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: top light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: track light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: trouble light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: twilight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: ultraviolet light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Very light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: white light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Wood's light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: X-light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: yardlight
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: Yehudi lights
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: yellow light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: zircon light
sense: forms of illumination (sense 2)
word: zodiacal light
Meronyms: word: bioluminescence
word: color
word: photograph
Derived terms: aberration of light
antilight
antilights
arc light
bad light
batement light
Bengola light
betalight
better light
bili light
blue light bandit
blue light disco
blue-light special
borrowed light
bright lights
bright lights and cold steel
bring to light
by one's lights
can light
cast light on
catch the light
city lights
cold steel and bright lights
colour light
colour light signal
come to light
cosmic light horizon
deadlight
density of light
electric light bug
elf-light
enlight
enlighten
fairy lights
false light
fanlight
faster than light
faster-than-light
faster-than-light particle
fill light
first light
floating light
floodlight
Friday night lights
give a light
go out like a light
guiding light
half-light
hard light
hide one's light under a bushel
hold a light
hyperlight
indicator light
in light of
in someone's light
in the cold light of day
in the light of
jump the lights
keep the lights on
kilolight
knock someone's lights out
leaded light
leading light
leadlight
let there be light
lidar
light at the end of the tunnel
light ball
lightbar
light barrel
light barrier
light-bearing
light bill
lightboard
lightboat
lightbox
light box
light bucket
lightbulb
light bulb
light buoy
light century
light characteristic
light clock
light cone
light curve
light day
light decade
light-dependent resistor
light due
light echo
light elf
light-emitting diode
light engineering
light eon
light equation
lightfast
light field
light fixture
lightfront
lightful
light gele
light globe
lightguide
light gun
lighthead
light hour
lighthouse
light intensity
light jockey
lightkeeper
lightless
lightlike
lightman
lightmans
lightmap
lightmapping
light meter
light microscope
light-mile
light mill
light millennium
light minute
light money
lightmonger
light month
light-nanosecond
light-off temperature
light of nature
light of one's eye
light-o'-love
light on the hill
light organ
light painting
light panel
lightpath
light pen
light pillar
light pipe
light-polluted
light pollution
light porter
lightpost
light probe
light profile
lightproof
lightray
light ray
lightroom
lightsaber
light sail
lights, camera, action
lightscape
light-scattering photometry
lightscot
light second
light sector
light-sensitive
lightshade
lightshift
lightship
light-shot
light show
light-skirts
light source
lights out
lights-out
light spectrum
lightspeed
light speed
lightstation
light station
lightstick
lightstrip
light-struck
light switch
light table
light therapy
light-tight
light time
light trespass
lightvessel
lightward
lightwards
light wave
light week
lightwell
lightwood
lightwork
lightworker
light year
livers and lights
looplight
lovelight
lowlight
luthern-light
make a light
marker light
marsh light
matchlight
microlight
midlight
more heat than light
multilight
nonlight
northern lights
offer the light
one-way light time
out like a light
overlight
peak of eternal light
penlight
pick-to-light
pipe-light
pocketlight
porchlight
portlight
punch someone's lights out
put on the red light
put someone's light out
put someone's lights out
quarter light
quarterlight
rainlight
Range of Light
ray of light
reading light
ringlight
running lights
rushlight
the light
the light of day
set light
shed light on
shed light upon
shine a light on
shine light on
Shine the Light Law
skylight
snowlight
southern lights
spacelight
speedlight
speed of light
Spirit of Light
Spooklight
stand in one's own light
St. Elmo's light
stop the lights
straylight
strike a light
striplight
sub-light
super-light
sweetness and light
tealight
the lights are on but nobody's home
the lights are on but no one's home
throw light on
thunderlight
toplight
torchlight
trick of the light
tubelight
underlight
uplight
warlight
watchlight
waxlight
windowlight
yellow light of death
Related terms: word: photon