alight

UK/əˈlaɪt/

alight verb: to make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.

Image: Donnanz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb (1)

alight (third-person singular simple present alights, present participle alighting, simple past and past participle alighted or alit)

(also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.

Synonyms:

alighten
(intransitive) Often followed by from or off: to get off an animal which one has been riding; to dismount; to descend or exit from a vehicle; hence, to complete one's journey; to stop.
- He alighted from his horse.
- Passengers are alighting from the carriage.
Synonyms:

alighten, light, disembark, debark, get off, get out, unlight
(also, figuratively, intransitive) Often followed by at, on, or upon: of something aloft: to descend and settle; to land, to lodge, to rest.
- A flying bird alights upon a tree.
- Snow alights on a roof.
(archaic, intransitive) To come down or go down; to descend.
(archaic, intransitive) Often followed by on or upon: of a blow, something thrown, etc.: to land heavily.
- But ſtorms of Stones, from the proud Temple's height, / Pour down, and on our batter'd Helms alight.1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 251, lines...
(figuratively, intransitive) Often followed by on or upon: to find by accident; to chance upon, to come upon.
(intransitive, obsolete) To arrive.
- Madam, heres a pretty hanſome ſtripling, nevv alight, / Enquires for Don Antonio.1626 February 19 (date licensed; Gregorian calendar), Iames Shirley [i.e., James Shirley], The Maides Revenge. A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] C[otes] for William Cooke, […], published 1639...

Verb (2)

alight (third-person singular simple present alights, present participle alighting, simple past and past participle alit or alighted)

(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) To cast light on (something); to illuminate, to light up.

Synonyms:

belight, beshine, bright, enlighten, fire, illume, illuminate, illumine, illustrate, irradiate

Antonyms:

darken
(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) To set light to (something); to set (something) on fire; to ignite, to light.
- The officer hauing by this time alighted his lampe, entred into the roome to ſee him, vvhom he accounted to be dead, […]1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “VVherein are Rehearsed the Innumerable Misfortunes vvhich Don-Quixote and His Good Squire Sancho Suffered in the Inne, vvhich He to His Harme Thought to be a Castle”, in...

Adjective

alight (not comparable)

(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) Burning, lit, on fire.
- The burning embers and the dry wind quickly set the whole neighbourhood alight.
- The sticks were damp and wouldn’t catch alight.
(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) Often followed by with: shining with light; luminous, radiant; also, brightly coloured; vivid.

Synonyms:

aglow, beamful, beamsome, beamy, brilliant, effulgent, glowing, illuminating, lambent, lighted

Antonyms:

adumbral, blear, caliginous, cimmerian, crepuscular, dark, darksome, darkling, dim, dimpsy
1. (also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) Of an electrical light source: switched on and emitting light.
(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) Aglow with activity or emotion.
- Her face was alight with happiness.
- But such a fierce, little, rapid, sparkling, energetic, she-devil I never beheld. She was alight and flaming, all the time.1846, Charles Dickens, “Lyons, the Rhone, and the Goblin of Avignon”, in Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, page 24

Adverb

alight (not comparable)

(also, archaic, figuratively, transitive) Chiefly in set alight: in flames, on fire; aflame.
- Each chapel had its saintly shrine, hung around with offerings; its picture above the altar, although closely veiled, if by any painter of renown; and its hallowed tapers, burning continually, to set alight the devotion of the worshippers.1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Burial Chant”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 227

alight meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

alight in Tamil

இறங்கு, வானிலிருந்து இழி, வந்துவிழு, தற்செயலாக வரப்பெறு, தீ வைக்கப்பட்டு, ஒளியேற்றப்பட்டு

alight in Malayalam

താഴത്തിറങ്ങുക, അവരോഹണം ചെയ്യുക, പറന്നു വന്നിറങ്ങുക

More languagesFewer languages

alight in Kannada: ಇಳಿ
alight in Odia: ଉତରିବା utaribā
alight in Sanskrit: उत्तरति úttarati
alight in Persian: روشن rowšan
alight in Vietnamese: xuống xe

Examples of alight in a sentence

He that neuer alights off a rich Farmer or country Gentleman, till he haue drawne money from him, is called The Snaffle.1609, Thomas Dekker, “Lanthorne and Candle-light. Or, The Bell-man’s Second Nights-walke. […] The Second Edition, […]: Rancke-riders, the...
The Horſemen all alighted, and the footmen taking Don Quixote and Sancho forcibly in their Armes, they ſet them in the Court, […]1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Of the Nevvest and Strangest Aduenture, that in All the Course of This History Befell Don Quixote”, in Thomas...
That, combined with the fact that I alight with only four or five other passengers, is a sad reminder of how most people continue to choose to travel to this far-flung corner of the UK.2021 November 3, Paul Stephen, “As Far North as You Can Go … to Thurso”, in Rail, number 943, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media...
His fearefull freends vveare out the vvofull night, / Ne dare to vveepe, nor ſeeme to vnderſtand / The heauie hap, vvhich on them is alight, / Affraid, leaſt to themſelues the like miſhappen might.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 20...

All 40 example sentences with alight

Synonyms of alight

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of alight

Forms of alight

third-person singular present	alights
present participle	alighting
past participle	alighted
past	alighted
past participle	alit
past	alit
second-person singular present (archaic)	alightest
second-person singular past (archaic)	alightedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	alighteth

Past tense of alight: alighted or alit

Origin of alight

From Middle English alighten (“to descend from a place: to dismount, get off; to descend to a place: to arrive or stop (at a place); to land; to drop; to attack; of lightning: to strike; to leap on to, mount; to descend in rank; to cause (someone) to lose rank; to come forth, spring from; to alleviate, relieve; (Christianity) of Jesus: to come down to earth from heaven, become incarnate; to descend (to hell); of the Holy Spirit, angels, miracles, etc.: to descend (from heaven); to descend (upon someone); to appear in a place”) [and other forms], from a merger of: * Old English ālīhtan (“to alight, dismount”), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to descend, alight, light; to make easy or light, alleviate, lighten, relieve”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“not heavy, light”); and * Old English ġelīhtan (“to descend; to come down, dismount; to make easy or light, alleviate, lighten, relieve”), from ġe- (intensifying prefix, attached to verbs to indicate completeness or perfection) + līhtan, līehtan (see above). The English word is analyzable as a- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + light (“to ease, lighten; to take off; to...

The verb is probably derived partly: * from Middle English alighten (“to kindle, light, set on fire; to begin burning; to become bright, shine; to arouse, rouse, stir; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually, illuminate”) [and other forms], from Old English ālīhtan, ālȳhtan (“to light up; enlighten”) (perhaps modelled after Latin illūmināre, the present active infinitive of illūminō (“to brighten, illuminate, light up”)), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to glow, to shine; to illuminate, to light”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to see; to shine; bright”)); and * from Middle English onlighten (“to cause (something) to shine; to clarify; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually”) [and other forms], from Old English onlīhtan, a variant of inlīhtan (“to give light to, brighten, illuminate; to cause to shine; to shine; (figuratively) to give clear sight; to clear a mental fog, enlighten”), from Proto-Germanic *inliuhtijaną (“to enlighten, illumine”), from *in (“in; into”) + *liuhtijaną (“to give light, shine”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-; see above); and * from later uses of alight (adjective). The English word is...

Words formed from alight

Phrases with alight

Words that rhyme with alight

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about alight

What does alight mean?: Alight means to make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.
What is alight in Hindi?: Alight in Hindi is रोशन (rośan). See Alight meaning in Hindi.
How do you use alight in a sentence?: He that neuer alights off a rich Farmer or country Gentleman, till he haue drawne money from him, is called The Snaffle.
What part of speech is alight?: Alight can be a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce alight?: Alight is pronounced /əˈlaɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of alight?: The past tense of alight is alighted.

Words near alight in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-alight.ogg.

Cite this entry: “alight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.