enlightenment
/ɪnˈlaɪtənmənt/
enlightenment noun: an act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed.
Noun
enlightenment (usually uncountable, plural enlightenments)
- An act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed.
- A concept in spirituality, philosophy and psychology related to achieving clarity of perception, reason and knowledge.
- But the man who has attained enlightenment sees that the apparent reality is mere illusion, or, as was said a couple of thousand years later, that there is nothing good nor bad but thinking makes it so.1893, Thomas Huxley, Evolution and Ethics
- Thus Django becomes the carrier of the “public use of one's reason”—the Kantian road to enlightenment given to him by the German “Forty-Eighter” dentist–turned-bounty hunter Dr. “King” Schultz, and represents the fictive, allohistorical beginning of the battle against slavery and racism in the...2014 July 31, Oliver C. Speck, editor, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained: The Continuation of Metacinema, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 25
Proper noun capitalized: Enlightenment
the Enlightenment
- A 17th- and 18th-century European intellectual and cultural movement emphasizing rationalism. The period during which it flourished is called the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason.
- He first presented a complementary thesis on the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), in which he used the term “archaeology” for the first time, and which indicated the period of history to which he was constantly to return.
- The Enlightenment: the intellectual, philosophical, cultural and scientific spirit of the 18th century. A belief in reason, progress, man’s “maturity” and a general rejection of tradition, religion and authority.1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 36 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN)
- Synonyms:
- European Enlightenment, Euro-American Enlightenment, Western Enlightenment, Aufklärung
- Synonym of Age of Enlightenment.
- What is enlightenment? In a 1784 essay with that question as its title, Immanuel Kant answered that it consists of “humankind’s emergence from its self-incurred immaturity,” its “lazy and cowardly” submission to the “dogmas and formulas” of religious or political authority.¹ Enlightenment’s motto...2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 1: Dare to Understand!”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Penguin, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- Age of Enlightenment
enlightenment meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
enlightenment in Hindi
- act of enlightening, state of being enlightened
- प्रबोधन prabodhan
- philosophy and psychology related to achieving clarity of perception, reason and knowledge
- प्रबोधन prabodhan, जागरण jāgraṇ
enlightenment in Tamil
- தெருட்சி, ஞானோதயம், தெளிவு, அக ஒளி
enlightenment in Marathi
- ज्ञानोदय
enlightenment in Urdu
- آگہی, روشن خیالی
More languagesFewer languages
- enlightenment in Bengali
- বুঝ bujh, জ্ঞান gễn
- enlightenment in Telugu
- జ్ఞానోదయం jñānōdayaṁ
- enlightenment in Malayalam
- പ്രബോധോദയം, ജ്ഞാനോദയം
- enlightenment in Kannada
- ಜ್ಞಾನೋದಯ
- enlightenment in Gujarati
- જ્ઞાનોદય
- enlightenment in Nepali
- प्रबुद्धता prabuddhatā
- enlightenment in Arabic
- تَنْوِير tanwīr
- enlightenment in Malay
- kecerahan, penyedaran, kesedaran
- enlightenment in Indonesian
- pencerahan
- enlightenment in Persian
- رُوشَنگَری rowšangari
- enlightenment in Thai
- การตรัสรู้ gaan-dtràt-sà-rúu, การรู้แจ้ง
- enlightenment in Vietnamese
- sự giác ngộ, sự khai ngộ
Examples of enlightenment in a sentence
- Vesak or Visakha is a spring celebration that commemorates Buddha's birth, enlightenment, death, and passing into nirvana.
- So, you want to get in on this fastgrowing opportunity for spiritual enlightenment and quick bucks?
- This impressive mammal seemed on the verge of extinction, a victim of enlightenment and manners and corporate groupspeak.
Synonyms of enlightenment
- European Enlightenment
- Euro-American Enlightenment
- Western Enlightenment
- Aufklärung
- Age of Enlightenment
- epiphany
- peace that passeth understanding
- bodhi
- nirvana
- satori
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of enlightenment
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | enlightenments |
| alternative form | enlightment |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form (rare) | Enlightment |
Origin of enlightenment
From enlighten + -ment.
Proprialization from enlightenment.
Words formed from enlightenment
- Age of Enlightenment
- Counter-Enlightenment
- Dark Enlightenment
- post-Enlightenment
- pseudoenlightenment
Questions about enlightenment
- What does enlightenment mean?
- Enlightenment means an act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed.
- What is enlightenment in Hindi?
- Enlightenment in Hindi is प्रबोधन (prabodhan), जागरण (jāgraṇ). See Enlightenment meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is enlightenment?
- Enlightenment can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce enlightenment?
- Enlightenment is pronounced /ɪnˈlaɪtənmənt/.
- What is the plural of enlightenment?
- The plural of enlightenment is enlightenments.
Words near enlightenment in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: enlightenment (page history and authors); Enlightenment (page history and authors); enlightenment (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); enlightenment (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); enlightenment (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); জ্ঞান (Bengali) (page history and authors); enlightenment (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); enlightenment (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); enlightenment (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-enlightenment.wav.
Cite this entry: “enlightenment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/enlightenment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.