Alighten
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To alight, to dismount or get down from.
"When I alighten at my destination, I saw them going in the rickshaw."
- 2 To lighten; to reduce in weight or heaviness.
"I shivered and shook, and would have screqamed in my fright—but the Fiend,—as he seemed to be, —in a hoarse, croaking voice, charged me to keep silence,—saying that I had lain seven years bound for my sin, and that my soul would speedily be sent on an errand to sinners yet on the earth, to warn them from the evil of their ways, —and that, then, my punishment in Purgatory would be alightened."
- 3 To make light; to illuminate or brighten.
"Of those who should be alightened by his faith and sanctified by his grace Christ designed to form a holy society, over which he will reign for ever."
- 4 To alight; to land, to descend and rest.
"The bees always alighten at the bottom of the spike, and, crawling spirally up it, sucked one flower after the other."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"When I alighten at my destination, I saw them going in the rickshaw."
Etymology
From Middle English alighten, from a merger of Old English ālīhtan (“to alight, dismount”), from prefix ā- (compare Gothic 𐌿𐍃- (us-), German er- originally meaning "out") + līhtan (“to alight”); and Old English ġelīhtan (“to alight, approach, come, come down, dismount”); equivalent to alight + -en.
From Middle English alighten, from a merger of Old English ālīhtan (“to lighten, relieve, alleviate, take off, take away, alight”) and Old English ġelīhtan (“to lighten, mitigate, assuage”); equivalent to a- + lighten.
From Middle English alighten, from Old English ālīhtan (“to light up, enlighten”); equivalent to a- + light. Cognate with German erleuchten (“to light up, illuminate”).
More for "alighten"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.