illumination

/ɪˈluməˌneɪʃən/

/ɪlumɪˈneɪʃən/

Other forms: illuminations

Illumination is light. Kids up past their bedtimes have been known to read entire books under their covers using only the illumination from a flashlight.

Use the noun illumination to talk about light, like the illumination of the moon on the surface of a lake. Illumination can also refer to an understanding or a spiritual awareness, like when a mystery of your faith suddenly makes sense to you. The Latin root is illuminationem, "throw into light" — you can picture the light bulb over a person's head in a cartoon to remember the various meaning of illumination.

Definitions of illumination

1. noun

   the luminous flux incident on a unit area
   synonyms: illuminance

   type of:

   brightness, brightness level, light, luminance, luminosity, luminousness

   the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light
2. noun

   the degree of visibility of your environment
   types:

   light, lighting

   having abundant light or illumination

   dark, darkness

   absence of light or illumination

   night

   darkness

   black, blackness, lightlessness, pitch blackness, total darkness

   total absence of light

   blackout, brownout, dimout

   darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft)

   semidarkness

   partial darkness

   type of:

   state

   the way something is with respect to its main attributes
3. noun

   an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding
   synonyms: clarification, elucidation

   types:

   disambiguation

   clarification that follows from the removal of ambiguity

   lexical disambiguation

   disambiguation of the sense of a polysemantic word

   type of:

   interpretation

   an explanation that results from interpreting something
4. noun

   painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)
   synonyms: miniature

   type of:

   painting, picture

   graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface
5. noun

   a condition of spiritual awareness; divine illumination
   synonyms: light

   type of:

   condition, status

   a state at a particular time