ILLUMINATION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Illumination

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/ɪlˌumənˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Illumination n.

The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated.

Festive decoration of houses or buildings with lights.

Adornment of books and manuscripts with colored illustrations. See Illuminate, v. t., 3.

That which is illuminated, as a house; also, an ornamented book or manuscript.

That which illuminates or gives light; brightness; splendor; especially, intellectual light or knowledge. "The illumination which a bright genius giveth to his work."

(Theol.) The special communication of knowledge to the mind by God; inspiration. "Hymns and psalms... are framed by meditation beforehand, or by prophetical illumination are inspired."

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Etymology of 'Illumination'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Illumination" Quotes from Famous Books

... the bear, looking very much astonished at the sudden brilliant illumination which must have seemed like a flash ...

— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren

... it appeared what it was: a blotched, disordered huddle, ugly, raw, fit companion of the swamp and jungle. Then beads of light appeared, some still, some winking, one crooked line of flaring illumination marking the Street of the Sailors, along which the notorious kantrans flourished, now ready for their nightly brood of men who sought forgetfulness in revelry. Soon, Carse knew, the faint man-noises he heard would grow into a broad fabric of sound, ...

— The Bluff of the Hawk • Anthony Gilmore

... Connecticut, where he arrived on Saturday morning, with similar marks of affection and esteem to those so cordially bestowed on him in the towns he had already visited. He was expected by the citizens on Friday evening, and arrangements were made for a general illumination. He was escorted into the city by the military, and a large procession of the citizens received him soon after he entered within its bounds, and conducted him to the State House, where he was addressed by the Mayor of the city, who assured him of the ...

— Memoirs of General Lafayette • Lafayette

... disappear. Instead, the drop was left in a second silver grey once more, and the light now settled upon the flesh of a leaf, revealing the branching thread of fibre beneath the surface, and again it moved on and spread its illumination in the vast green spaces beneath the dome of the heart-shaped and tongue-shaped leaves. Then the breeze stirred rather more briskly overhead and the colour was flashed into the air above, into the eyes of the men and women who walk ...

— Monday or Tuesday • Virginia Woolf

... faintly shone upon Lorison's face. An illumination from within also pervaded it. The girl saw the rapt, ascetic look; it was the face either of Sir Galahad ...

— Whirligigs • O. Henry

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