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

That old story survived the reevaluation of war that took place during the Enlightenment; the transformation of the modern battlefield by mass mobilization and factory-scale killing in the twentieth century; and now, the separation between killer and target facilitated by technology. —Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025

In the 18th century, Romanticism—and with it, the Gothic tale—surged as a reaction against the suffocating dogmas of the Enlightenment. —Guillermo Del Toro, The Atlantic, 24 Oct. 2025

Even at the height of the Enlightenment in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, when waves took up much of the scientific discourse, the ocean always seemed to have the last word. —Joseph Howlett, Quanta Magazine, 15 Oct. 2025

Mokyr's research suggests that Britain was different because, essentially, the Brits operationalized the Enlightenment in the real economy more than other nations. —NPR, 14 Oct. 2025