Lighten

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪ.tn̩/

Definitions

1. To reduce the weight of something ; to make colors or surroundings less dark or intense ; to lessen the seriousness or severity of a situation or mood
2. To take away heaviness or mass from an object ; to brighten a color, room, or mood ; to ease or soften the impact of something difficult or grave
3. To decrease the heaviness carried by a person or thing ; to increase brightness or decrease darkness visually ; to diminish the harshness or burden of an experience or condition

Etymology: The verb "lighten" is a plain formation: "light" with the suffix "-en," which in Old English turned adjectives into verbs meaning "to make or become" that quality. Its root is ancient. "Light" descends from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "not heavy," the same root behind Latin "levis," which gave English "levity" and "levitate." So the two senses of "lighten" that sound most different, making something less heavy and making something less dark, both grow from one notion of lacking weight, with the sense of brightness developing from the same word. Old English had the verb "līehtan," meaning "to make bright," and it passed into Middle English as "lightnen," which eventually became "lighten." Over time the "weight" sense and the "brightness" sense ran side by side, and the modern figurative uses, such as lightening a mood or a sentence's severity, extend the same pattern of making something less burdensome or less intense.

Synonyms: brighten, illuminate, clarify, ease, relieve

Antonyms: darken, weigh down, burden, intensify, complicate