enlighten
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Its narrative offers few character sketches, jumps around in time and digresses into subjects that distract more than they enlighten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
So can you enlighten us as to the great wisdom Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito share in their own concurrences?
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2025
And I’ll just pray to the gods of the arts to enlighten me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
Because I break bread with and claim to be part of this marked construct, this otherness, complete with jail time within the carceral state, allow me to enlighten you.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024
Like the scientific inventions that were sparking into life all around him, heralding the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, this music was intended, primarily, to benefit and enlighten all.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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He thought about the country’s anger, prejudice and the way the news batters more than enlightens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2023
Patrick Carone, a former editor at Abercrombie’s quarterly magazine, enlightens viewers on the concept of a mall: “Imagine, like, a search engine that you could walk through.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2022
What it shows us, what it leaves out and which important opportunities it misses are more concerning, all of which are why this hour disappoints more than it enlightens or activate the viewer.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2021
But it thrives as an autonomous sphere, and as I age, it’s increasingly the one that succors, enlarges, and enlightens me most, when I have the energy and presence to bring to it.
From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2019
I will read further, searching until I find an explanation that enlightens me.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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“Are our moneyed men less enlightened to their own interest, or less enterprising in the pursuit?,” the future Treasury secretary wrote External link in 1780.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Quite poorly educated, quite easily misled, perhaps less than enlightened.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Many of the problems we face are self-inflicted, and they are fixable with proper allocation of resources, and enlightened and accountable leadership.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 10, 2026
“I believe that it enlightened, lit a fire under the guys,” DiGiorgio said, “to be a little excited for this week.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2025
Such behavior, the journal said, “would be called treason in countries less enlightened and more arbitrary than ours.”
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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"Together, these records offer a more complex and enlightening account of the Revolution, showing how its consequences were felt far beyond the Thirteen Colonies," Cunningham added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
But the Glass year is already officially underway with two curiously enlightening projects this month.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
The people who say it don’t understand how enlightening the observation is.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
With six politicians vying for your attention, these debates can be noisy and argumentative, but they can also be enlightening and influential.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
Similarly, whenever I used to think a conversation I’d had with someone was especially funny or enlightening, I would jot it down in my notebook, the same one I kept my book titles in.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
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Vocabulary lists containing enlighten
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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Ronald Reagan, "Tear Down This Wall" (1987)
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The Titan's Curse
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