lighten Hear it!

lighten¹ Definition

lighten (līt′'n)

transitive verb

  1. to make light or bright; illuminate
  2. to make light or pale
  3. to cause to flash in or as in lightning: with out or forth
  4. Archaic to give knowledge to; enlighten

Etymology: ME lightnen

intransitive verb

  1. to become light; grow brighter
  2. to shine brightly; flash
  3. to give off flashes of lightning

lighten¹ Related Forms
light′·ener noun
lighten² Definition

lighten (līt′'n)

transitive verb

    1. to make lighter in weight
    2. to make less heavy; reduce the load of
  2. to make less severe, harsh, or troublesome
  3. to make more cheerful; gladden

Etymology: ME lihtnen

intransitive verb

  1. to become lighter in weight
  2. to become more cheerful

lighten² Related Forms
light′·ener noun
lighten² Idioms

lighten up

Informal to become less serious, angry, worried, concerned, etc.; take it easy

lighten Synonyms

lighten

v.

  1. To make lighter

    unburden, disburden, make lighter, reduce the load of, lessen the weight of, uplift, buoy up, mitigate, levitate, alleviate, make less burdensome, disencumber, take off a load, remove, take from, pour out, throw overboard, jettison, reduce, cut down, put off, facilitate, upraise, make buoyant, take off weight, eradicate, shift, change; see also decrease 1, empty 2, unload.

    Antonyms load*, burden*, overload. *

  2. To ease

    ease, comfort, cheer, gladden; see comfort, relieve 2. See syn. study at relieve.

lighten Usage Examples

Object

  • flywheel: Next addition to the block is a lightened flywheel, then cams.
  • mood: I feel I need to lighten the mood somewhat.
  • gloom: To lighten this gloom, two bright new stars appeared on the horizon.
  • burden: There is nothing like a bit of human interest to lighten the burden of study.
  • load: The miners rode only a little way, then got out to lighten the load.

Adjective complement

  • quick: His movement was excellent and he really is lightening quick.

Modifying Another Word

  • gradually: Bleach brush variants erase to white, gradually lightening by removing color.
  • fast: He adds so much in terms of his general banter, which is lightening fast and very funny.
  • slightly: Weâve also moved the mid-point slider to the left to slightly lighten the image overall.
  • certainly: Peggy Day certainly lightened the dark side of Gibbons haunted vocals.
  • then: I love the way we can discuss serious issues then lighten everything up with nonsense.
  • really: Being able to talk to other polio survivors is the best medicine I have found for PPS, it really lightens the load.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • up: I say lighten up, better to ban alcohol!

Followed by a transitive particle

  • up: A great way to lighten up the working day.

Particle object:

  • bit: Apart from that, she says, the priority for South African film-makers is to lighten up a bit.
  • day: Anything to lighten up that day, I suppose.

Present participle complement

  • flash: Look at the beauty of the sky with its clouds and sunshine or even the amazement of the storm and lightening flashing.

Preposition: in

  • color: The whole plant may lighten in color with no associated leaf curl.

Preposition: of

  • sky: The day started with the very slow lightening of the sky that you get at high latitudes.
lighten Quotes

We can applaud the state lottery as a public subsidy of intelligence, for it yields public income that is calculated to lighten the tax burden of us prudent abstainers at the expense of the benighted masses of wishful thinkers.

—Quine,Willard Van Orman