(transitive, figurative) To clarify or make something understandable.
Used in a Sentence
illuminates
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for illuminates.
Editorial note
If science illuminates like a laser then the alternative, the squishy human approach, or whatever you want to call it, illuminates like a floodlight.
Examples15
Definitions4
Parts of speech1
Quick take
(transitive, figurative) To clarify or make something understandable.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of illuminates gathered in one view.
(transitive) To shine light on something.
(intransitive) To glow; to light up.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for illuminates.
verb
(transitive, figurative) To clarify or make something understandable.
verb
(transitive) To shine light on something.
verb
(intransitive) To glow; to light up.
verb
(intransitive) To be exposed to light.
Example sentences
If science illuminates like a laser then the alternative, the squishy human approach, or whatever you want to call it, illuminates like a floodlight.
The spotlights are warm and incandescent, and their narrow spread illuminates the center of the work more than the edges.
Even there though, to say that censorship should be seen as violence obscures more than illuminates.
Foucault's work reveals that we always exist within power structures and illuminates much of how these structures operate.
As I understand it, the light is not merely being projected or reflected, but dispersed on a coordinate system, so the display actually illuminates where it was transparent before.
Very rarely, but when it happens it's like the rain stops, the clouds part and the sun illuminates the countryside with a fresh spring warmth.
For some, it illuminates the nature of an abstract turing machine.
Even more like the raid of the illuminates game developers.
It illuminates, with facts, just how disproportionately our system of laws punishes young black men while young whites are given second and third and fourth chances.
Either way, I think the story illuminates the inner dynamics of the scientific enterprise in a way that few other stories have done.
The downside case is where the API's model either never cut it in the first place, or as @wtallis illuminates above with OpenGL, where the model just ages poorly[1].
Driverless cars illuminates that point quite substantially.
Quote examples
"Perhaps this is counterintuitive to some" This just illuminates why this process needs to be changed.
Here is a recent summary of policy advocacy using intergenerational financial capacity to influence single-generation humans, "..this book illuminates how elite consultants have adopted grassroots advocacy tactics for paying clients.
Read up on the origin of the word "thugs", then try to understand Thugee history from a their viewpoint, rather than that of the British who exterminated them - and that alone hopefully illuminates where I'm coming from.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use illuminates in a sentence?
If science illuminates like a laser then the alternative, the squishy human approach, or whatever you want to call it, illuminates like a floodlight.
What does illuminates mean?
(transitive, figurative) To clarify or make something understandable.
What part of speech is illuminates?
illuminates is commonly used as verb.