Illuminating

How to spell illuminating

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce illuminating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does illuminating mean?

1. adjectiveHelping to clarify or explain something; mentally enlightening.
2. verbLighting up or casting light on a place or object.

Illuminating in a sentence

• adjective

  Her illuminating summary made the whole budget report easy to follow.

• verb

  The floodlights were illuminating the stadium long before kick-off.

• adjective

  The documentary offered an illuminating look at how the factory actually runs.

• verb

  Candles were illuminating the dining room while the power was out.

Where does illuminating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb illuminare, meaning 'to light up' or 'to throw light upon', which was built from the prefix in- (here meaning 'upon') and lumen, luminis, the Latin noun for 'light'. The doubling of the l happened in Latin itself, where in- assimilated to il- before a root beginning with l, which is exactly why the modern spelling carries two l's but only one m and one n. English took the word in through Old French and Late Latin during the medieval period, first in the literal sense of casting physical light and of decorating manuscripts with bright gold and colour, the source of the term 'illuminated manuscript'. From there it grew a figurative sense of shedding mental light, so that an illuminating remark is one that clarifies or enlightens. The same lumen root lives on in relatives such as 'luminous', 'luminary' and 'luminescence', and remembering that family helps fix the single m in the middle.

How the word is built

• il- (form of in-: into, upon)
• lumin (from Latin lumen: light)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)