illuminating
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- illuminatingly adverb
- nonilluminating adjective
- nonilluminatingly adverb
- unilluminating adjective
Etymology
Origin of illuminating
First recorded in 1555–65; illuminat(e) + -ing 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Researchers at the University of Missouri are developing a new way to determine which cancer patients are most likely to benefit from targeted therapies by illuminating tumors in medical scans.
From Science Daily • Mar. 16, 2026
The subject line of your email, to play therapist for a moment, was illuminating and revealed the heart of your conundrum.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 10, 2026
In front of Moscow's ornate Bolshoi Theatre, its soft yellow lights illuminating a snowstorm in the Russian capital, Valentina Ivakina had come to "escape today's problems".
From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026
It’s a text that can be quite illuminating.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
The sun was shining into the kitchen, illuminating everything: Ulysses's whiskers, the typewriter keys, her father's upturned and smiling face, and her mother's astonished and disbelieving one.
From "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures" by Kate DiCamillo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
