Word.ws English Dictionary

seeing the light

seeing the light is the present participle and gerund of see the light.

Meaning of see the light

Verb

see the light (third-person singular simple present sees the light, present participle seeing the light, simple past saw the light, past participle seen the light)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, religious) To undergo a spiritual conversion.
    • Once I was lost in darkness, but now I have seen the light.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To gain an understanding of something previously not understood, especially in a sudden insight.
    • Finally, near the end of the meeting, John saw the light and withdrew his objections.
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To come into the world or to public notice.
    • Never had his book seen the light …until now.

Questions about seeing the light

What is seeing the light the present participle and gerund of?
Seeing the light is the present participle and gerund of see the light.

Words near seeing the light in the dictionary

  1. seeing the error of one's ways
  2. seeing the forest for the trees
  3. seeing the glass half-empty
  4. seeing the glass half-full
  5. seeing the last of
  6. seeing the light
  7. seeing the light of day
  8. seeing the point
  9. seeing the same way
  10. seeing the trees through the forest
  11. seeing the way clear to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: seeing the light (page history and authors); see the light (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “seeing the light.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seeing_the_light. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.