illuminating

il·lu·mi·nat·ing | \ i-ˈlü-mə-ˌnā-tiŋ

How to pronounce illuminating (audio)

\

Definition of illuminating

: providing insight, clarity, or understanding : highly informative an illuminating remark/discussion … much of the information is quite illuminating …— Glenn Kenny

Other Words from illuminating Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about illuminating

Keep scrolling for more

Examples of illuminating in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But that cameo included the most illuminating play of the preseason. — Rich Campbell, chicagotribune.com, "Assessing the Bears’ 5 draft picks as the preseason ends: What’s their outlook for the 2019 season?," 30 Aug. 2019 Yet something tells me the most illuminating clue for reading both Lover and Reputation may be Loie Fuller, the dancer to whom Swift paid homage on tour. — Abby Aguirre, Vogue, "Taylor Swift on Sexism, Scrutiny, and Standing Up for Herself," 8 Aug. 2019 The Wilder flurry pierced the mainstream in 2018, when Caroline Frasier’s exhaustive and illuminating biography Prairie Fires won the Pulitzer. — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, "Little House, Big Fans: These People Really, Really Love Laura Ingalls Wilder," 24 Aug. 2019 Ultimately, though, the diagnosis may be less illuminating: Graham was never the principled Republican the press made him out to be. — Matt Ford, The New Republic, "The Banality of Lindsey Graham," 22 July 2019 What follows here is not as soppy as all that, but hopefully as helpful and illuminating. — Sarah Menkedick, Longreads, "The First Book," 24 July 2019 One of the most fascinating and illuminating sections of this book covers the trade that opened up with Yupik and Chukchi peoples living in Kamchatka. — David James, Anchorage Daily News, "In the early 20th century, Arctic fox fur was all the rage. The impact in Alaska was immense.," 20 July 2019 The scene offers a hilarious and illuminating breakdown of the nudes’ aesthetic. — Matt Brennan, latimes.com, "That racy 'Euphoria' slide show: How the series got its hands on those nudes," 30 June 2019 The food itself is phenomenal—breads, salads, stews, curries, sticky-sweet desserts—but even more illuminating is Helou’s decision to include blocks of different recipes for a single dish. — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, "The Best Cookbooks of the Century So Far," 14 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'illuminating.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about illuminating

Dictionary Entries near illuminating

illuminating engineer

illuminating engineering

illuminating gas

Statistics for illuminating

Last Updated

26 Oct 2019

Time Traveler for illuminating

The first known use of illuminating was in 1644

See more words from the same year

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

carouse

to engage in dissolute behavior

Test Your Vocabulary

Pass the Little Ribbons: A Pasta Word Quiz

Match the pasta to its meaning in English: Rotelle

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.