Illuminate vs. Lighten — What's the Difference?

Light up

To make light or lighter; illuminate or brighten.

Decorate (a page or initial letter in a manuscript) with gold, silver, or coloured designs.

To make (a color) lighter.

Help to clarify or explain

(Archaic) To enlighten.

To provide or brighten with light.

To become lighter; brighten.

To decorate or hang with lights.

To be luminous; shine.

To make understandable; clarify

To give off flashes of lightning.

To enlighten intellectually or spiritually; enable to understand

To make less heavy

To adorn (a page of a book, for example) with ornamental designs, images, or lettering in brilliant colors or precious metals.

To lessen the severity or oppressiveness of

To expose to or reveal by radiation.

To make less worried or more cheerful

One who has or professes to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.

To become less in weight.

(transitive) To shine light on something.

To become less oppressive, troublesome, or severe.

(transitive) To decorate something with lights.

To become cheerful

To clarify or make something understandable.

(transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.

(transitive) To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.

(intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.

To make spectacular.

To flash lightning, to give off lightning.

(intransitive) To glow; to light up.

(transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.

(intransitive) To be exposed to light.

To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.

To direct a radar beam toward.

(transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

Someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment.

(transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.

(obsolete) enlightened

(transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.

To make light; to throw light on; to supply with light, literally or figuratively; to brighten.

(intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.

To light up; to decorate with artificial lights, as a building or city, in token of rejoicing or respect.

(intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.

To adorn, as a book or page with borders, initial letters, or miniature pictures in colors and gold, as was done in manuscripts of the Middle Ages.

To descend; to light.

To make plain or clear; to dispel the obscurity to by knowledge or reason; to explain; to elucidate; as, to illuminate a text, a problem, or a duty.

To descend; to light.

To light up in token or rejoicing.

To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to display a flash or flashes of lightning; to flash.

Enlightened.

To grow lighter; to become less dark or lowering; to brighten; to clear, as the sky.

One who is enlightened; esp., a pretender to extraordinary light and knowledge.

To make light or clear; to light; to illuminate; as, to lighten an apartment with lamps or gas; to lighten the streets.

Make lighter or brighter;

To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.

Make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear;

To emit or disclose in, or as in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.

Add embellishments and paintings to (medieval manuscripts)

To free from trouble and fill with joy.

To make lighter, or less heavy; to reduce in weight; to relieve of part of a load or burden; as, to lighten a ship by unloading; to lighten a load or burden.

To make less burdensome or afflictive; to alleviate; as, to lighten the cares of life or the burden of grief.

To cheer; to exhilarate.

Make more cheerful

Make more cheerful

Make lighter or brighter;

Become brighter;

Become lighter;