ENLIGHTEN • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Enlighten

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/ɛnlˈaɪtən/ Listen

verb

Enlighten v. t.

To supply with light; to illuminate; as, the sun enlightens the earth. "His lightnings enlightened the world."

To make clear to the intellect or conscience; to shed the light of truth and knowledge upon; to furnish with increase of knowledge; to instruct; as, to enlighten the mind or understanding. "The conscience enlightened by the Word and Spirit of God."

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Etymology of 'Enlighten'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Enlighten" Quotes from Famous Books

... inevitable that this womanhood—born it would seem from its elevation to guide and enlighten a world, and in place thereof feeding on it—should at last have given birth to a manhood as effete as itself, and that both should in the end have been swept away before the march of those Teutonic folk, whose women were virile and could ...

— Woman and Labour • Olive Schreiner

... must not be arbitrary, but it must be powerful enough to repress arbitrary action in others. If the supreme power is needlessly limited, the secondary powers will run riot and oppress. Its supremacy will bear no check. The problem is to enlighten the ruler, not to restrain him; and one man is more easily enlightened than many. Government by opposition, by balance and control, is contrary to principle; whereas absolutism might be requisite to the attainment of their higher purpose. Nothing less than concentrated power ...

— Lectures on the French Revolution • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

... other than Kirkup himself. The poor old gentleman had grown so accustomed to believing in miracles that he made little ado about accepting this one also; he received the child as his daughter, and made provision for her in his will. No one had the heart or thought it worth while to enlighten him as to certain facts which might have altered his attitude; but it was well known that Regina had a lover, a handsome young Italian peasant, much more capable of begetting children than of taking care ...

— Hawthorne and His Circle • Julian Hawthorne

... and insulting language. But beware, my dear boy, how you run into errors by forming a too hasty judgment. It is possible that in a person so little favoured by nature may dwell an exalted soul, which may one day astonish the world with the greatness of its virtues, or enlighten it with knowledge. The most rugged stem may produce the most delicious fruit, while a straight and stately plant ...

— The Looking-Glass for the Mind - or Intellectual Mirror • M. Berquin

... the great battle began. Sohrab asked to have Rustem pointed out to him, but the soldiers on his side were all instructed to keep him in ignorance. By some strange mischance the two men whom his mother had sent to enlighten him, were both slain. Rustem was moved at the sight of the brave young warrior, but remembering that Tahmineh's offspring was a daughter, thought nothing more of the thrill he felt at sight of him. At last Sohrab ...

— National Epics • Kate Milner Rabb

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