WeWord

enlightenment

State of being enlightened.

Old English and Middle English

State of being enlightened.

noun [ en-LIGHT-en-ment ]

The action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened, especially in a spiritual or intellectual context.

  • 🖊️  Had he known the path to enlightenment, he would have taken it without hesitation.
  • 🖊️  In the stillness of dawn, she found enlightenment.
  • 🖊️  The monk's serene smile was a testament to his enlightenment.
  • 🖊️  If only the world could reach a state of enlightenment, wars might cease to exist.
  • 🖊️  The Age of Enlightenment brought forth a wave of intellectual and cultural growth in Europe.
  • 🖊️  The journey to enlightenment is often paved with trials and tribulations.
  • 🖊️  Can one truly achieve enlightenment in a world so full of distractions?
  • 🤝  illumination, insight, awareness
  • ⚔️  ignorance, darkness, obscurity

18th-century intellectual movement.

noun [ en-LIGHT-en-ment ]

A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton.

  • 🖊️  In the age of enlightenment, reason and science began to illuminate the dark corners of ignorance.
  • 🖊️  Voltaire, a beacon of the Enlightenment, once said, 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.'
  • 🖊️  If the Enlightenment had not occurred, would we still be shackled by the chains of superstition and dogma?
  • 🤝  Age of Reason, Renaissance, modernism
  • ⚔️  Middle Ages, medievalism