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illumination

UK/ɪˌl(j)umɪˈneɪʃən/US/ɪˌlumɪˈneɪʃən/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,682 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: illuminations

Illumination is the lighting of a place, or a sudden understanding. Poor illumination.

The mental sense is a metaphor from the physical one and is older in English than people assume. A third sense is the decoration of a manuscript in gold and colour, which is where illumination met the art of the book.

Kim Hansen · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of illumination

  1. 1nounilluminationThe lighting of a place, or a sudden understanding.B2+

    “The illumination in the stairwell was one bulb for four floors.”

illumination is a lighting.

Where it comes from

Latin illuminatio comes from illuminare, to light up, from in plus lumen, light.

  1. Latin

    illūminātiō

  2. Middle French

    illumination

  3. English, today

    illumination

Borrowed from Middle French illumination, from Latin illūminātiō. Middle French illumination, from Latin illūminātiō, from Latin illumino. Equivalent to illuminate + ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

illumination in the wild

  • Global illumination (GI), or indirect illumination, refers to a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics meant to add more realistic lighting to 3D scenes.

    Global illumination

  • The International Commission on Illumination is the international authority on light, illumination, colour, and colour spaces.

    International Commission on Illumination

  • The introduction of printing rapidly led to the decline of illumination.

    Illuminated manuscript

  • Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects.

    Lighting

  • Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight.

    Lighting

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

  • illuminate