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Definitions

enlighten

[en-lahyt-n] / ɛnˈlaɪt n /


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

If you’re wondering what the Jane’s Addiction split and Walt Whitman’s groundbreaking “Leaves of Grass” have in common, allow rocker Dave Navarro to enlighten you.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 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

“All right, enlighten me. What problem haven’t I solved?”

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

There's not a lot of focus on music that enlightens people, and that carries over to other products as well.

From Salon ● Jun. 17, 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

Poverty casts a dark shadow, while love enlightens the ambience.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 27, 2019

Must-see TV: When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s miniseries about the lives at the heart of the Central Park Five, informs and enlightens audiences—but as Willa Paskin reviews, entertainment is not its core purpose.

From Slate ● May 30, 2019

I will read further, searching until I find an explanation that enlightens me.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

“The art it represents,” wrote Vincent Canby in the New York Times, “belongs to that school of very classy calendar art supported by airlines, insurance corporations and a few enlightened barber shops.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

The impoverished woman appears to find comfort in the asylum, where she is known to be an “excellent hard worker,” as the Reader sees evidence of genuine, occasionally enlightened, care.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Or should the seemingly enlightened Norwegians be more understanding?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

“In their minds, they see themselves as more enlightened and therefore more justified to cut off for more reasons,” Anderson says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

As he traced the prison’s history, he saw progress, the “puritanical” practice of the nineteenth century evolving into the “more enlightened social thought” of the twentieth.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

This columnist’s three years in the trenches were the toughest yet most enlightening three years of my career.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Nevertheless, it’s an enlightening read in light of how dramatically war has changed in the last two-and-a-half centuries.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

"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

Alexander said: "It was the single most enlightening conversation I've had in the last month on trade so I see why you hold him in such high regard."

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

"Intelligence is essentially a banal trade of sifting through huge amounts of random information in a search for a single enlightening gem or illuminating link," he wrote.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau


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