illuminateformal

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Defining & explaining
account (to someone) for something
accountability
adumbrate
adumbration
annotation
annotator
belabour
demythologize
extenuate
indefinably
indescribably
inexpressibly
justificatory
lay something out
outline
sketch
spell
trace
walk through something
what is he, are they, etc. like?idiom

enlighten | American Dictionary

enlighten
verb[ I/T ]
us/ɪnˈlɑɪ·tən/
to cause someone to understand something by explaining it or by bringing new information or facts to that person’s attention:
[ I ]The show is meant to both enlighten and entertain.
[ T ]We hope the pamphlet will enlighten voters about the issues.

enlightening

adjectiveus/ɪnˈlɑɪ·tən·ɪŋ/
The discussion was enlightening.

Examples of enlighten

enlighten
The parent who requests a label does not ask to be enlightened, but to test and reinforce the child's lexicon.
It's one thing to say we are liberated, enlightened, this and that.
Stadiums, types of plays, equipment, players and managers, properties of the field - the photos are enlightening, especially when used to illustrate difficult-to-imagine terms.
The service has become something of a symbol for enlightened welfare intervention.
A multiple embeddedness frame enlightens the potential rise of global networks, connecting clusters specialized in different activities in different parts of the world.
Ironically, the inception of modernism - the very moment where man (or woman) invented himself (herself) - simultaneously launched new and more subtle "enlightened" mechanisms of control.
Knowing where the lease came from didn't help with their daily routine, but it was enlightening and interesting to that audience anyway.
If enlightened local authority in planning and design is to occur, it will happen when architects overcome their recalcitrance to enter the local fray.
This view of punishment is distinct from the enlightened or scientific view that is often associated with the early nineteenth-century criminal law reformers.
Accordingly, they extol the virtues of a monarch who, although autocratic, was also enlightened and improved the lot of his people.
Its advocates could draw on the writings of a range of political thinkers who have all been labelled enlightened.
Considered alone, "middle principles," casuistry, and the like morally enlighten but do not morally enflame.
I have benefited from enlightening interactions with a number of colleagues.
Since this meaning is posited as being relevant and enlightening in regard to present-day problems, the task of interpretation emerges anew again and again.
The relationship between religious enthusiasm and enlightened philosophy, however, could be closer than is often thought.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.