Enlightens

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To provide someone with knowledge or insight that increases understanding ; to clarify or explain something so it becomes easier to comprehend
2. To impart wisdom or information that leads to greater awareness ; to make an idea, concept, or situation clearer or more transparent
3. To shed light on a subject by offering information or perspective ; to help someone grasp the meaning or details of something complicated

Etymology: The verb "enlighten" is an inflected form of "enlighten", so its story is the verb's story. Its roots run deep in English: Old English had "inlīhtan" and "onlīhtan", meaning to give light to or illuminate, built from the same stem as the noun "light". Over time, the Middle English word "enlightenen" was formed as a blend of that Old English verb and "lightnen", another word meaning to illuminate, so the result carries two layers of the same idea. The shift from physical light to mental understanding happened gradually. A room is lit by a lamp, and a person is "lit up" by knowledge in the same way, so the metaphor of light as truth or wisdom became natural. The verb's older sense of giving sight, both literal and figurative, paved the way for the modern meaning of clarifying something so it can be understood.

Synonyms: illuminates, educates, informs

Antonyms: confuses, misleads