lighten

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English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈlaɪ.tən/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪtən

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +‎ -en.

Verb[edit]

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

  1. (transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
    to lighten an apartment with lamps or gas; to lighten the streets
    • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59,[1]
      A Key of fire ran all along the shore,
      And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:
  2. (intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
  3. (intransitive, now rare) To flash lightning, to give off lightning.
    • c. 1590 (date written)​, G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC, [line 500]:
      Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals):
      […] this dreadful night,
      That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars
      As doth the lion.
    • 1986, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries 1978-1987, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 182:
      While we were in the Twins it began to thunder and lighten and pour with rain.
  4. (transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
  5. To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
    • 1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof”, in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies‎[2], London: John Standish, page 10:
      O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day,
      Which setst the Eye without and Mind within,
      Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray,
      Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of lighten
infinitive (to) lighten
present tense past tense
1st-person singular lighten lightened
2nd-person singular lighten, lightenest† lightened, lightenedst†
3rd-person singular lightens, lighteneth† lightened
plural lighten
subjunctive lighten lightened
imperative lighten —
participles lightening lightened

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +‎ -en.

Verb[edit]

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

  1. (transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.
    Sorrow can be lightened by being openly brought out.
  2. (transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.
  3. (transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.
  4. (intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.
  5. (intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of lighten
infinitive (to) lighten
present tense past tense
1st-person singular lighten lightened
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular lightens
plural lighten
subjunctive lighten lightened
imperative lighten —
participles lightening lightened
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From light +‎ -en.

Verb[edit]

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

  1. To descend; to light.
Related terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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