Library / English Dictionary

LIGHTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Alleviate or remove (pressure or stress) or make less oppressive

Example:

lighten the burden of caring for her elderly parents

Synonyms:

lighten; relieve

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

mitigate (make less severe or harsh)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become lighter

Example:

The room lightened up

Synonyms:

lighten; lighten up

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lighten"):

irradiate (cast rays of light upon)

illume; illuminate; illumine; light; light up (make lighter or brighter)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

darken (become dark or darker)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make more cheerful through the use of color

Example:

The paint will brighten the room

Synonyms:

brighten; lighten; lighten up

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Become more cheerful

Example:

after a glass of wine, he lightened up a bit

Synonyms:

buoy up; lighten; lighten up

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

cheer; cheer up; chirk up (become cheerful)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 5

Meaning:

Reduce the weight on; make lighter

Example:

she lightened the load on the tired donkey

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

disburden; unburden (take the burden off; remove the burden from)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make more cheerful

Example:

the conversation lightened me up a bit

Synonyms:

buoy up; lighten; lighten up

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "lighten" is one way to...):

cheer (show approval or good wishes by shouting)

Cause:

buoy up; lighten; lighten up (become more cheerful)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Antonym:

weigh down (be oppressive or disheartening to)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A medium-sized macaque that tends to be an opportunistic omnivore, the Macaca fascicularis has grey-brown or reddish-brown fur that lightens ventrally, and cheek whiskers.

(Cynomolgus Maritius Monkey, NCI Thesaurus)

Then let me advise you to take up your little burdens again, for though they seem heavy sometimes, they are good for us, and lighten as we learn to carry them.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The reader believed his name was already written in the Lamb's book of life, and he yearned after the hour which should admit him to the city to which the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour; which has no need of sun or moon to shine in it, because the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mrs Musgrove had got Mrs Harville's children away as much as she could, every possible supply from Uppercross had been furnished, to lighten the inconvenience to the Harvilles, while the Harvilles had been wanting them to come to dinner every day; and in short, it seemed to have been only a struggle on each side as to which should be most disinterested and hospitable.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The old coachman, who had been waiting about with his own horse, now joining them, Fanny was lifted on hers, and they set off across another part of the park; her feelings of discomfort not lightened by seeing, as she looked back, that the others were walking down the hill together to the village; nor did her attendant do her much good by his comments on Miss Crawford's great cleverness as a horse-woman, which he had been watching with an interest almost equal to her own.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

At first the steps of a few belated villagers, or the sound of voices from the village, lightened our vigil, but one by one these interruptions died away, and an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for the chimes of the distant church, which told us of the progress of the night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the foliage which roofed us in.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If I have ever had a burden on my heart, it has been lightened for me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then I lay quiet, waiting to sever these last when the strain should be once more lightened by a breath of wind.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this afternoon.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could not think that this earth contained a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning; and you can do but one thing, Utterson, to lighten this destiny, and that is to respect my silence.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)