Meaning

11 senses
  1. (transitive)To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.

    to lighten an apartment with lamps or gas; to lighten the streets

    осветля́тьosvetljátʹ, осветли́тьosvetlítʹ

    make more cheerful

  2. (intransitive)To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.

    светле́тьsvetlétʹ, посветле́тьposvetlétʹ

    become lighter

  3. (transitive)To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.

  4. (transitive)To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

    Sorrow can be lightened by being openly brought out.

    Many hands lighten the workload.

    erleichtern

    облегча́тьoblexčátʹ, обле́гчитьobléxčitʹ

    reduce the weight on; make lighter

  5. (transitive)To make light or lighter in weight.

  6. (transitive)To make less serious or more cheerful.

    смягча́тьsmjaxčátʹ, смягчи́тьsmjaxčítʹ

    make more cheerful through the use of color

  7. (intransitive)To become light or lighter in weight.

    become more cheerful

  8. (intransitive)To become less serious or more cheerful.

  9. To descend; to light.

    Book of Common Prayer O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.

  10. (archaic, intransitive)To flash lightning, to give off lightning.

    blitzen

  11. (archaic)To illuminate with knowledge.

Examples

57 sentences
  1. Tom tried to lighten the mood.

    ruТом попытался разрядить атмосферу.

    deTom versuchte, die Stimmung aufzuheitern.

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  2. He needs a few jokes to lighten up his talk.

    ruЕму нужно несколько шуток, чтобы оживить его речь.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. We have to lighten the load.

    deWir müssen die Ladung verringern.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · _undertoad · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. Tom needs to lighten up.

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  5. Come on, Tom, lighten up.

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Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 4
to make brighter or clearer:
to become brighter or clearer:
to alleviate:
to make less serious:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
to flash lightning, to give off lightning:
to alleviate:

Origin

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light + -en. From light + -en.

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light + -en.

From light + -en.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

lightens, lightening, lightened, lightened
Base formlighten · to lighten
3rd person singularlightens
Present participlelightening
Past simplelightened
Past participlelightened

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theylighten
he, she, itlightens

Past simpleLesson

all personslightened

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave lightened
he, she, ithas lightened

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill lighten

Synonyms

6 synonyms
Close in meaning

Antonyms

2 antonyms

Word family

9 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
lighten — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto