illumination

Everyday

1. Light, or lighting up a place: The room needs better illumination. tree →
2. illuminations (UK) = coloured lights used to decorate a town or seaside: the Blackpool Illuminations. tree →
3. Understanding or explaining something: Her talk gave us some illumination. tree →
4. A painted, coloured picture or letter in an old handwritten book. tree →

In the lessons

In science «illumination» is how much light falls on something; in history lessons monks made illuminations in old books; in Britain towns put up illuminations at festivals. Phrases: «street illumination», «the illuminations», «illuminated manuscripts».

Examples

• The illumination in the hall was too dim to read. tree →
• We drove along the seafront to see the illuminations. tree →
• The old book had golden illuminations. tree →
• His explanation brought illumination to a hard problem. tree →
• Plants need good illumination to grow. tree →
• Street lamps give illumination at night. tree →
• Nor was illumination wanting in this fairy-like region, which at night was lit up by the glow-worms of the deep. tree →

Note

Formal; in plain talk «light» or «lighting». Verb: illuminate. Spelled with double l: il-lu-mi-na-tion.

In Jewish tradition

In science «illumination» is how much light falls on something; in history lessons monks made illuminations in old books; in Britain towns put up illuminations at festivals. Phrases: «street illumination», «the illuminations», «illuminated manuscripts».

Examples

• Eliphas Lévi, the famous French Occultist, thus wrote of the "Sepher Yetzirah," in his "Histoire de la Magie," P. 54: "The Zoharis a Genesis of illumination, the Sepher Jezirah is a ladder formed of truths. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →

Note

Formal; in plain talk «light» or «lighting». Verb: illuminate. Spelled with double l: il-lu-mi-na-tion.