noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated. countable, uncountable

   "The room was filled with soft illumination from the candles."

2. 2
   painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts) wordnet
3. 3
   Festive decoration of houses or buildings with lights. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   the luminous flux incident on a unit area wordnet
5. 5
   Adornment of books and manuscripts with colored illustrations. See illuminate (transitive verb). countable, uncountable

Show 5 more definitions

6. 6
   an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding wordnet
7. 7
   Splendour; brightness. countable, figuratively, uncountable
8. 8
   the degree of visibility of your environment wordnet
9. 9
   Enlightening influence; inspiration. countable, figuratively, uncountable

   "The philosopher’s work gave intellectual illumination to many."

10. 10
    a condition of spiritual awareness; divine illumination wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

clarificationlightminiatureabstractabstractionaccomplishment

Example

More examples

"A small, naked bulb gave the only illumination."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French illumination, from Late Latin illuminatio, from Latin illumino. Equivalent to illuminate + -ion.

Related phrases

Phong illuminationglobal illuminationillumination problemoblique illuminationover-illuminationstructured illuminationstructured illumination microscopy

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.