shine a light on
shine a light on verb: to make clear; to shed light on; to throw light on.
Verb
shine a light on (third-person singular simple present shines a light on, present participle shining a light on, simple past and past participle shined a light on or shone a light on)
- To make clear; to shed light on; to throw light on.
- It’s cool to shine a light on something you’ve experienced for years. I did six pilots prior to getting this show, and with all six I experienced at least one or two of the types of network executives we have on “Episodes.”2012 July 13, Megan Angelo, “From Other Woman to Everywoman”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 May 2024
- I’ll take a university student, undergraduate or graduate, with me on a reporting trip to Africa next summer. Together we’ll shine a light on neglected issues.2012 December 5, Nicholas Kristof, “Gifts That Change Lives”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 May 2024
Examples of shine a light on in a sentence
- "It's great to shine a light on the subject and I really wish it would cause a huge resurgence," says Usher.2013 October 12, Tim Lewis, “Letters of Note: the website that revived the fine art of correspondence”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
- It’s time to shine a light on this deadly trade.2016 August 24, Anna Macdonald, “Greater transparency around the arms trade would save countless lives”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
Forms of shine a light on
| third-person singular present | shines a light on |
|---|---|
| present participle | shining a light on |
| past participle | shined a light on |
| past | shined a light on |
| past participle | shone a light on |
| past | shone a light on |
| alternative form | shine light on |
Questions about shine a light on
- What does shine a light on mean?
- Shine a light on means to make clear; to shed light on; to throw light on.
- How do you use shine a light on in a sentence?
- "It's great to shine a light on the subject and I really wish it would cause a huge resurgence," says Usher.
- What part of speech is shine a light on?
- Shine a light on is a verb.
- What is the past tense of shine a light on?
- The past tense of shine a light on is shined a light on.
Words near shine a light on in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shine a light on (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: “shine a light on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shine_a_light_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.