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Glite Dictionary
🔦 To light up 💡 To explain 📜 To decorate
to illuminate

to illuminate

5 8.3
To decorate old hand-written books with gold and bright pictures
  • verb
  • /ɪˈluːməˌneɪt/
translation icon : iluminar
  • I have laid out the illuminated manuscript and the Hortus Sanitatis on my left.
  • illuminated manuscript
  • illuminated frontispiece
  • illuminated initial

Examples

  • The manuscript's production itself—the processes of transcribing and illuminating older charters—might have had a role in resuscitating these lost moments.

    Academic text (1999)

  • "We think they are a kind of illuminated manuscript," Bellarmine said.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The walls were illuminated with frescoes of red and blue, as bright as if painted yesterday.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Most props, including illuminated manuscripts from the period, were produced specifically for the film.

    Blog text (2)

  • There are people who collect illuminated manuscripts and papyrus scrolls, too.

    Blog text (2)

  • Some were richly illuminated in brilliant reds, blues, and burnished gold leaf.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Now, this is a page from an illuminated text that describes a book called The Shepherd's Journal, said to have been a firsthand account of Atlantis and its exact whereabouts.

    Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

  • The text was elaborately illuminated, the margins filled with intricate art and script.

  • The Lindisfarne Gospels and other illuminated manuscripts elevated the Latin text to art.

  • His collaged drawings resemble pages from an illuminated manuscript, showcasing beautiful colors and designs.

Synonyms

to decorate
vsto illuminate
226 1.9

To make something look nicer by adding paint, ornaments, or other items

is specialized for manuscripts, using metallic leaf and detailed pictures
to emblazon
vsto illuminate
16 7.5

Decorate something with a bright, noticeable symbol or design

is specific to hand decorated manuscripts using metallic leaf and detail
to bedazzle
vsto illuminate
3 5.1

Add bright, shiny pieces to clothes or things to attract attention

refers to careful manuscript ornamentation with metals and painted images
to lumine
vsto illuminate
  • Archaic
9.9

To decorate a book page with gold or bright colors

has identical meaning and use for medieval manuscript decoration
to begild
vsto illuminate
  • Archaic
9.9

To put thin gold or gold leaf on something

is used for decorating manuscripts with metals and bright colours
to engild
vsto illuminate
  • Archaic
9.9

To cover something with gold or thin gold leaf

focuses on manuscript decoration using gold, silver, and pigments

Antonyms

to erase
144 1.6

Remove marks, writing, or digital files so they are no longer visible

to deface
29 5.8

Damage the surface of something by writing, scratching, or painting it

Phrasal Verbs

to illuminate the issue
1 4.9

To help people understand a topic by explaining it clearly

How Ornate

to gild
5 7.0
to illuminate
5 8.3
to embellish
19 6.1
to decorate
226 1.9
to mark
192 1.0

Surface Forms

illuminate infinitive
illuminated past
illuminated past participle
illuminating present participle
illuminates third person singular

Morphology

illuminate = il + lumin + ate

The manuscript sense ('to decorate with gold/colour') is historically derived from making texts visually 'bright', so the relation exists but is specialized and may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Illuminate comes from the Latin parts in- 'into' and lumen 'light', and in the past artists used it for pages decorated with gold or bright paint that 'lit up' the page. So to illuminate a manuscript was to make it bright and beautiful.