LIGHTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lighten mean? 

• LIGHTEN (verb)
  The verb LIGHTEN has 6 senses:

1. make more cheerful

2. reduce the weight on; make lighter

3. become more cheerful

4. make more cheerful through the use of color

5. become lighter

6. alleviate or remove (pressure or stress) or make less oppressive

  Familiarity information: LIGHTEN used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIGHTEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lighten    ... he / she / it lightens   
Past simple: lightened   
Past participle: lightened   
-ing form: lightening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more cheerful

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

buoy up; lighten; lighten up

Context example:

the conversation lightened me up a bit

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reduce the weight on; make lighter

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

she lightened the load on the tired donkey

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become more cheerful

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

buoy up; lighten; lighten up

Context example:

after a glass of wine, he lightened up a bit

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

cheer; cheer up; chirk up (become cheerful)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make more cheerful through the use of color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

brighten; lighten; lighten up

Context example:

The paint will brighten the room

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 5

Meaning:

Become lighter

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

lighten; lighten up

Context example:

The room lightened up

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 6

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

lighten; relieve

Context example:

lighten the burden of caring for her elderly parents

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

mitigate (make less severe or harsh)

Sentence frames:

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

 Context examples 

I said it would lighten the load of his life—I hope it will!—and that it would give me increased opportunities of being his companion.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then he took the trail, the lightened sled bounding along behind the willing dogs; for they, too, knew that safety lay open in the gaining of Fort McGurry.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The lightened sled bounded on its side behind them.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Let me be a little lightened too in her opinion as well as in yours.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger is over.

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

“Then I will go out too,” she said, “and see if it will lighten my misery, for I feel as if the world were coming to an end.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

As I drew nearer, my heart was suddenly and greatly lightened.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If he could but once set eyes on him, he thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away, as was the habit of mysterious things when well examined.

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

The time of year lightened the evil to him.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened as I plunged yet deeper in the ravine of Arve.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)