the Enlightenment

noun

: a movement of the 18th century that stressed the belief that science and logic give people more knowledge and understanding than tradition and religion

Examples of the Enlightenment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In it, a twelve-year-old boy, Cosimo, rebels against his aristocratic family, and the Enlightenment’s false divide between nature and culture, by climbing a holm oak and spending his life in the canopy. — Eric Klinenberg, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026

But Musical Bodies is not limited to this characteristically Western dichotomy and the Enlightenment discourse that fostered it. — Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

But, as a figure of the Enlightenment and thus a believer in reason and science, the former president discounted the miracles associated with Jesus — including his virgin birth and supposed resurrection. — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 June 2026

The hotel dates from 1740, when it was built by Vicente Diego Alberti Mercadal, whose great-grandson Vicente Alberti Vidal, a theatre enthusiast, was important during the Enlightenment. — Adrienne Wyper, TheWeek, 22 June 2026