illuminateil‧lu‧mi‧nate /ɪˈluːməneɪt, ɪˈljuː- $ ɪˈluː-/ ●○○ (also illumine) verb [transitive] 
Word Origin Examples
A single candle illuminated his face. At night the canals are beautifully illuminated.2formal to make something much clearer and easier to understand: The report illuminated the difficult issues at the heart of science policy.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINilluminate
Verb TableOrigin:
1400-1500 Latin past participle of illuminare, from lumen ‘light’VERB TABLE
illuminate
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | illuminate |
| he, she, it | illuminates | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | illuminated |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have illuminated |
| he, she, it | has illuminated | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had illuminated |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will illuminate |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have illuminated |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am illuminating |
| he, she, it | is illuminating | |
| you, we, they | are illuminating | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was illuminating |
| you, we, they | were illuminating | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been illuminating |
| he, she, it | has been illuminating | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been illuminating |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be illuminating |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been illuminating |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- A small path was illuminated by low orange lamps concealed in the flower beds.
- Newly discovered artifacts may help illuminate the culture of the Aztecs.
- Small lights illuminate different points on the map.
- The blazing fire illuminated the china ornaments above the hearth.
- The room was illuminated by candles.
- Annotated, logged and indexed, his book scarcely illuminated Belushi's demons, or the system that supposedly destroyed him.
- But their worry is focused like a hot, illuminating light in the right ways.
- Down below, he could see the single torch beam which illuminated Devlin, the girl and Gilbert.
- The story of Ruth illuminates for me the unbridgeable difference, rather than the similarity, between her situation and mine.
- There are a number of ways in which one may use the individual pinpoints of light to illuminate the territory between them.
Longman Language Activatorto make a place light► light up
Collocations to shine lights on a place so that people can see it well, or so that it looks attractive: light up something/light something up: · Fireworks lit up the night sky.· Their garden was lit up by dozens of coloured lamps.
► light to put lights in a place so that people can see what is happening there: · What are you going to use to light the stage?be lit by/with something: · The room was lit by dozens of candles.
► switch/turn/put on the light(s) to turn or press a control to make an electric light produce light: · Can you put the light on? I can't see anything!· When I turned on the light, I realized the room was in chaos.
► illuminate to make a place light or shine light on something so that you can see it, especially in order to draw attention to something: illuminate something: · Small lights illuminate different points on the map.· The blazing fire illuminated the china ornaments above the hearth.be illuminated by/with something: · A small path was illuminated by low orange lamps concealed in the flower beds.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► light illuminates something
1to make a light shine on something, or to fill a place with light: formal (=makes it bright or able to be seen)· The light from the screen illuminated the people gathered round it.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► also· They would also illuminate any steps.· Study of these meditations therefore also illuminates aspects of the inner journey which all the medieval mystics take for granted.· The Aceh deal should also illuminate the murky political scene in the Indonesiancapital.
NOUN► area· As well as illuminating a relatively unexplored area, the research should be useful to educationalists and others working with Hindu children.· She said she came to help illuminate the area with her headlights.· More field work studies of systems analysts and how they relate to managers should illuminate this little known area of managerial work.· But he hopes that scans should illuminate the precise areas of any deficits.· More flares had joined the others, illuminating the area like some fiery aquatic tattoo.
► face· Nell's lamp softly illuminated their faces as they held a council of war.· The light coming up from the freeway illuminated his face in a peculiar way.
► light· Jimmy was temporarily blinded by the orange light which suddenly illuminated the car windscreen.· There are a number of ways in which one may use the individual pinpoints of light to illuminate the territory between them.· Then a rectangle of brighter light illuminates the dusty ruched curtains as they glide towards the ceiling.· But almost instantly the battery-powered emergency light came on, illuminating the nightmare scene with an eerie blue radiance.· Beyond the doorway the dim light flared suddenly, illuminating the fleeing rats with an unearthly orange glow.· Other areas are a blaze of colour as spot lights illuminate a vast choice of customer designs displayed on wall units.· The shop lights illuminated them as though they were valuable items on display in a museum.· A reset button is also provided, which is pressed if the charging light fails to illuminate.
► nature· We aim to illuminate the nature of their dilemmas and to show how they affect the bargaining relationships with foreign investors.
► scene· The Aceh deal should also illuminate the murky political scene in the Indonesiancapital.· But almost instantly the battery-powered emergency light came on, illuminating the nightmare scene with an eerie blue radiance.· The light from the hall illuminated the scene.· Ambulances stood next to fire trucks, which illuminated the scene.· A bare bulb illuminates the scene.· There was some moon which would illuminate the scene suddenly, then be gone as though switched off by the scudding cloud.· This was a most impressive end to the pursuit, with all the flashing blue lights illuminating the scene.
► way· Even the hardened expert will find something which illuminates in an original way some concept he has long taken for granted.· Among psychologists, Erik Erikson and Bruno Bettelheim looked at narratives in illuminating ways.· The lamp outside the turkey-house was still burning to illuminate their way along the front drive and into the yard.· The stars illuminated their way through the village to the shopkeeper's house.· It will be useful in conclusion to look at some incidents which illuminate the way in which symbolism operates in the religion.
VERB► help· We hope it will help to illuminate the problems the designer faces in trying to promote such changes by introducing new material.· But can they help to illuminate the question of what is on the move?· Despite this difference, the plot of 587 does help illuminate the crisis of two years before.· We can, how-ever, develop an album of sketches of a landscape that would help to illuminate the terrain.· A brief résumé of the order of events helps to illuminate the course of the arguments about them.· She said she came to help illuminate the area with her headlights.· It's the clash or conflict of views that helps to illuminate the question. 4.
A single candle illuminated his face. At night the canals are beautifully illuminated.2formal to make something much clearer and easier to understand: The report illuminated the difficult issues at the heart of science policy.