LIGHTENING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lightening mean? 

• LIGHTENING (noun)
  The noun LIGHTENING has 2 senses:

1. descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity that occurs late in pregnancy; the fetus is said to have dropped

2. changing to a lighter color

  Familiarity information: LIGHTENING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIGHTENING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity that occurs late in pregnancy; the fetus is said to have dropped

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("lightening" is a kind of...):

descent (a movement downward)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Changing to a lighter color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

lightening; whitening

Hypernyms ("lightening" is a kind of...):

change of color (an act that changes the light that something reflects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lightening"):

bleach (the act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent))

 Context examples 

“I want to talk to you so much!” said I. “It's such a lightening of my heart, only to look at you! If I had had a conjuror's cap, there is no one I should have wished for but you!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Meaning nothing but a certain matured frivolity and selfishness, not always inseparable from full-blown years, I think she confirmed him in his fear that he was a constraint upon his young wife, and that there was no congeniality of feeling between them, by so strongly commending his design of lightening the load of her life.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)