The Enlightenment was the age when reason was placed above tradition. The European Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers, an Enlightenment value.
It runs roughly through the eighteenth century and its claims — that authority must justify itself and that evidence beats revelation — underpin most modern constitutions. Kant answered the question of what it was with one word: daring to know. Lowercase, enlightenment is the Buddhist goal of seeing things as they are.
1nounenlightenmentThe age when reason was placed above tradition.
“Voltaire was one of the great writers of the Enlightenment.”
2nounstateA state of full spiritual understanding.
“The monk spent his life seeking enlightenment through meditation.”
Old English
inlīhtan
Middle English
enlightenen
English
enlighten
English, today
enlightenment
Built from
From enlighten + -ment. enlighten Formerly also inlighten, from Middle English enlightenen, inlightnen, a hybrid formed from inlighten (“to enlighten, illuminate”), from Old English inlīhtan, onlīhtan, enlīhtan (“to enlighten, illuminate, give light to, give sight to”) and lightnen (“to enlighten, illuminate”) (equivalent to light + en). Cognate with Dutch inlichten (“to enlighten, inform”), Old High German inliuhten (“to enlighten, illuminate”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (“to enlighten, illuminate”). More at inlight, -en.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA