illumined; illumining
Synonyms
Examples of illumine in a Sentence
small table lamps illumine the inn's dining room in a most romantic way
readers of great literature are both entertained and illumined
Recent Examples on the Web
The papaya-pulp glow of sodium lights on a remote station’s platform revealed the denizens of the wayside: disused open-top hoppers, empty coil cars, corroded gondolas, a modest village in the distance illumined by weak-yellow streetlamps.
—
Mark Orwoll, Travel + Leisure, 18 July 2023
There was in the Registry, besides, her portrait, painted by an artist of the time in the conventional style of the time: haloed, illumined, awestruck eyes fixed upward to the heavens.
—Cynthia Ozick, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
The non-narrative videos, which may well come to be regarded as the Sistine Chapel of video art, projected onto epic screens above the orchestra and singers, serve not to illumine Wagner’s drama but his intent.
—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2022
In addition, examples of illustration and decorative design by Holbein and others illumine the varied functions of a sixteenth-century court vocation.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022
The past few decades of self-portraiture have seen the birth and death of micro-trends, including selfie sticks and ring lights that illumine our faces with an angelic glow.
—Allure, 23 Feb. 2021
For the Native American legend about why the bear has no tail, a sequence of adroit drawings further illumined Thompson’s lively narration and the characterful musical sound effects in Hitomi Oba’s score.
—Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2019
In the case of Arp, a revolutionary figure in modernism’s movements of abstraction, Dadaism and Surrealism, this complementary group show illumines just how foundational and remarkably inimitable Arp’s abstractions really are.
—Lance Esplund, WSJ, 30 Oct. 2018
All are illumined by a searching intelligence and a willingness to test the boundaries of the short story form.
—Martha Southgate, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018
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Mark Orwoll, Travel + Leisure, 18 July 2023
There was in the Registry, besides, her portrait, painted by an artist of the time in the conventional style of the time: haloed, illumined, awestruck eyes fixed upward to the heavens.
—Cynthia Ozick, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
The non-narrative videos, which may well come to be regarded as the Sistine Chapel of video art, projected onto epic screens above the orchestra and singers, serve not to illumine Wagner’s drama but his intent.
—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2022
In addition, examples of illustration and decorative design by Holbein and others illumine the varied functions of a sixteenth-century court vocation.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022
The past few decades of self-portraiture have seen the birth and death of micro-trends, including selfie sticks and ring lights that illumine our faces with an angelic glow.
—Allure, 23 Feb. 2021
For the Native American legend about why the bear has no tail, a sequence of adroit drawings further illumined Thompson’s lively narration and the characterful musical sound effects in Hitomi Oba’s score.
—Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2019
In the case of Arp, a revolutionary figure in modernism’s movements of abstraction, Dadaism and Surrealism, this complementary group show illumines just how foundational and remarkably inimitable Arp’s abstractions really are.
—Lance Esplund, WSJ, 30 Oct. 2018
All are illumined by a searching intelligence and a willingness to test the boundaries of the short story form.
—Martha Southgate, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illumine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of illumine was
in the 14th century
Dictionary Entries Near illumine
Cite this Entry
“Illumine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illumine. Accessed 3 Oct. 2023.
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