illumination

noun

il·lu·mi·na·tion | \ i-ˌlü-mə-ˈnā-shən

Definition of illumination

1 : the action of illuminating or state of being illuminated: such as

a : spiritual or intellectual enlightenment

b(1) : a lighting up

(2) : decorative lighting or lighting effects

c : decoration by the art of illuminating

2 : the luminous flux per unit area on an intercepting surface at any given point

3 : one of the decorative features used in the art of illuminating or in decorative lighting

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Examples of illumination in a Sentence

When taking photographs indoors, use a flash for illumination. They traveled to the temple in search of spiritual illumination. an old manuscript with beautiful illuminations

Recent Examples on the Web

Since 2001, San Diegans have oohed and aahed at the colorful, majestic rounds of illuminations launched from four barges strategically place around San Diego Bay. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "42 ways to celebrate July 4 in San Diego County with fireworks and parades," 27 June 2019 Needing illumination is that many slave owners, cognizant of their disintegrating economic prospects, were forced nearly at gunpoint by Union armies to free their slaves even after the 13th Amendment. — Marcus Harrison Green, The Seattle Times, "Juneteenth in Seattle brings jubilation and reflection on justice not yet realized," 21 June 2019 In theory, at least, the last lingering vestiges of the sun’s illumination do not give way to total nighttime blackness until the end of what is called astronomical twilight. — Martin Weil, Washington Post, "As summer solstice nears, daylight stretches its hours upon the stage," 14 June 2019 To date, the number of games that employ such tricks via proprietary Nvidia tech (global illumination, ray tracing, deep-learning super-sampling) can be counted on your fingers. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Nvidia refreshes RTX line: “Super” GPUs add performance at same MSRP," 2 July 2019 She was also given a warning for no rear plate illumination, and the car was released to a valid driver. — Thomas Jewell, cleveland.com, "Suspended drivers busted all over again: Bentleyville Police Blotter," 14 June 2019 But there’s a time to surrender to pleasure and illumination, and now is definitely one of those times. — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, "Martin Scorsese’s Bob Dylan Film Rolling Thunder Revue Is One of the Most Truthful Movies You’ll See in 2019," 12 June 2019 Featuring an elongated purple stream and sometimes a green, picket fence-like structure, this odd illumination can be seen lingering at latitudes far lower than typical aurorae. — Robin George Andrews, National Geographic, "Steve the odd 'aurora' revealed to be two sky shows in one," 3 May 2019 The sprawling venue was spruced up further to showcase the event as a grand one, complete with red carpets, flower decks, and illumination. — Kuwar Singh, Quartz India, "Narendra Modi begins his second term as India’s prime minister," 30 May 2019

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