Word: illumine Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English illuminen (“to light, light up; to shine; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually; to make illustrious”) [and other forms], from Old French illuminer (“to light up, illuminate; (figuratively) to enlighten”) (modern French illuminer), from Latin illūmināre, the present active infinitive of illūminō (“to light up, illuminate; to brighten; to adorn; to make conspicuous”), from il- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘in, within’; intensifying prefix)) + lūminō (“to illuminate; to brighten; (figuratively) to reveal”) (from lūmen (“light; light source; (poetic) brightness; daylight”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to shine; to see; bright”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Pronunciation: /ɪˈl(j)uːmɪn/, /ɪˈlumən/ 1. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: also, figuratively, literary, transitive Example: Laſt night of al, when yonder ſtarre that's weſtward from the pole, had made his coarſe to illumine that part of heauen. Where now it burnes, Marcellus and myself, The bell then towling one. Example: [O]ut-flew / Millions of flaming ſwords, drawn from the thighs / Of mighty Cherubim; the ſudden blaze / Far round illumin'd hell: […] 2. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: also, figuratively, literary, transitive Example: And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, / So is her face illumined with her eye; […] Example: The ſecond property of your excellent ſherris, is the vvarming of the blood, vvhich before (cold & ſetled) left the lyuer vvhite & pale, vvhich is the badge of puſilanimitie and covvardize: but the ſherris vvarmes it, and makes it courſe from the invvards to the partes extreames, it illumineth the face, vvhich as a beakon, giues vvarning to al the reſt of this little kingdom man to arme, […] 3. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, literary, transitive Example: Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect, didst thou call to me, my holy and divine teacher, thou Jesus Christ, who illuminedst the spirit world with a light, which was not of this world; […] 4. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, literary, transitive 5. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, literary, transitive 6. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, literary, rare, transitive Example: What in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raiſe and ſupport; / That to the highth of this great Argument / I may aſſert th' Eternal Providence, / And juſtifie the wayes of God to men. Example: This benighted mind, only illumined by a kind of miserable astuteness, and that 'cunning of the belly' which is born of want to engender avarice— […] had a pathos for his lively sympathies and his fresh heart. 7. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, literary, transitive Example: To Cato, Virgil pay'd one honeſt line; / O let my Country's Friends illumin mine! 8. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: intransitive 9. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: To trace the trail of feelings which such crises and calamities might be expected to breed in a woman of ordinary sensibility might have filled volumes. A dramatist, of course, has no volumes to fill. He is forced to contract. Even so, he can illumine; he can reveal enough for us to guess the rest. 10. Synonym of illuminate. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: "Shell-shock." Our faces did not illumine so she dragged on lamely, "Anyway, he's not well."