Word family noun light lighter lighting lightness adjective light lighted unlit verb light lighten adverb lightly light
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlightenlight‧en /ˈlaɪtn/ verb 1 [transitive]REDUCE to reduce the amount of work, worry, debt etc that someone has OPP increaselighten the load/burden/workload We should hire another secretary to lighten Barbara’s workload.2 [intransitive, transitive]BRIGHT to become brighter or less dark, or to make something brighter etc OPP darken As the sky lightened, we were able to see where we were.3 [intransitive, transitive] if you lighten something such as a mood or atmosphere, or if it lightens, it becomes less sad or seriouslighten the atmosphere/mood/conversation Nora didn’t respond to my attempts to lighten the conversation.4 [intransitive]HAPPY if someone’s face or expression lightens, they begin to look more cheerful His whole face would lighten when anyone mentioned Nancy.5 [intransitive, transitive]LIGHT/NOT HEAVY to reduce the weight of something, or to become less heavy6 → lighten up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
lighten• High above them the constant roof of clouds would merely lighten and darken in a long solar axial period of 116.8 days.• Maybe we should hire another secretary to lighten Barbara's workload.• Her Katherine is sparkling, strong and lightening fast.• School administrators are looking at ways to lighten teachers' workloads.• I'm sure you could lighten that suitcase a little if you only packed what you need.• This is the claim that industrialism had lightened the intensity of human productive activity.• As weather conditions got worse, Watts and Peters abandoned their photographic equipment in order to lighten the load.• Only in the Scherzo and in certain passages in the Finale do they begin to lighten the texture sufficiently.• On March 19 it passed a regulatory reform bill, which is intended to lighten the weight of government on small businesses.• Wild knows how to lighten up and he does it with the digital mastery and temperament he has exhibited for many decades.• As the sky lightened, we could see the distant mountains.lighten the load/burden/workload• So how about a new 12-place setting dishwasher to lighten the load?• We intend to lighten the burden of capital taxes and reform the taxation of savings.• Resist oppression, lighten the burden of the underdog, spread understanding and reason.• Most probably they were thrown into the sea to lighten the load when the ship found itself in difficulties.lighten the atmosphere/mood/conversation• I smile at her to lighten the atmosphere.• There was no breeze to lighten the atmosphere.• Just trying to lighten the mood a bit.• Meredith didn't respond to his attempt to lighten the conversation but merely sat staring at him thoughtfully.• The little mountains of earth scattered around didn't lighten the atmosphere, either. 