shed light on

English

Alternative forms

• shed light upon
• shed light

Verb

shed light on (third-person singular simple present sheds light on, present participle shedding light on, simple past and past participle shed light on)

1. (transitive, also figurative) To illuminate; to make clear.

   The new instruments will shed some light on the history of these rocks.

   There was another noticeable circumstance that shed light on human nature and Grim's knowledge of it.

   • 2007, Feist, Chilly Gonzales (lyrics and music), “My Moon My Man”, in The Reminder, performed by Feist:

     Take it slow, take it easy on me / And shed some light, shed some light on me please

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 September 2013:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: […] . The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.

   • 2020 July 29, “Neolithic skeleton among finds unearthed at HS2 site”, in Rail, page 17:

     The skeleton is an adult male who was buried with his hands bound together under his pelvis. It is suggested this unusual position means he could have been murdered or executed. […] We hope our osteologists will be able to shed more light on this potentially gruesome death.

Synonyms

• (illuminate): enlighten, illuminate; See also Thesaurus:illuminate
• (make clear): clear, clear up, elucidate
• (make understood): elucidate, sort out, straighten out, bring home

Translations

to illuminate

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 闡明／阐明 (zh) (chǎnmíng)

• Finnish: valaista (fi), valottaa (fi)
• French: faire la lumière sur (fr)
• Georgian: ნათელს მოფენს (natels mopens)
• German: auf etwas ein Licht werfen (also fig.), etwas (näher) beleuchten (fig.)
• Greek: ρίχνω φως (ríchno fos)
• Hebrew: שפך אור על (shafákh ór ál)
• Italian: fare luce su
• Polish: oświecić (pl), objaśnić (pl), rzucać światło impf, rzucić światło pf
• Portuguese: lançar luz sobre
• Romanian: lămuri (ro)
• Russian: проли́ть свет (на) (prolítʹ svet (na))
• Slovak: osvietiť, objasniť

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Somali: ^{(please verify)} wax cadeen, ^{(please verify)} siiba hadal amba war iyo idea wixii lamidda.