enlighten

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
16
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/ɪnˈlaɪtən/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ɪnˈlaɪtən/ · /ənˈlaɪtən/ · /ɛnˈlaɪtən/

Definition of enlighten

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To supply with light.
    “The sun enlightens the Earth.”
See all 2 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To supply with light.
    “The sun enlightens the Earth.”
  2. (figuratively, transitive)To make something clear to (someone); to give knowledge or understanding to.
    “She tried to enlighten them about the rules of the program, but they remained belligerently and self-righteously ignorant.”
    “Care to enlighten me, if you think I'm so benighted?”
    “There was a warning sulkiness in the manner of this speech, which admonished Mr Pecksniff that his dear friend was not to be trifled with or fenced off, and that he must either return a straight–forward reply to his question, or plainly give him to understand that he declined to enlighten him upon the subject to which it referred.”
    “As your reviewer showed, the purpose of the translator and publishers is to help along the labor movement by furnishing a lesson from the past to enlighten the movement of to-day.”
    “I'm in jail for what I hope will be a short stay and really quite lonely. If there are any who would care to correspond, I will be greatly pleased and will try to enlighten any and all to the hardships we have in prison.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Formerly also inlighten, from Middle English enlightenen, inlightnen, a hybrid formed from inlighten (“to enlighten, illuminate”), from Old English inlīhtan, onlīhtan, enlīhtan (“to enlighten, illuminate, give light to, give sight…

See full etymology

Formerly also inlighten, from Middle English enlightenen, inlightnen, a hybrid formed from inlighten (“to enlighten, illuminate”), from Old English inlīhtan, onlīhtan, enlīhtan (“to enlighten, illuminate, give light to, give sight to”) and lightnen (“to enlighten, illuminate”) (equivalent to light + -en). Cognate with Dutch inlichten (“to enlighten, inform”), Old High German inliuhten (“to enlighten, illuminate”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (inliuhtjan, “to enlighten, illuminate”). More at inlight, -en.

Anagrams of enlighten

1 play · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from enlighten

136 playable · top: LENGTHEN (12 pts)

Best play lengthen 12 points

7-letter words

6 words

6-letter words

13 words

5-letter words

28 words

4-letter words

37 words

3-letter words

38 words

2-letter words

13 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to enlighten to make another valid word.

Find your best play with enlighten

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes enlighten, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.