enlighten ɛnˈlaɪɾɪn verb
1. give spiritual insight to
2. make understand
3. make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear
The word enlighten has appeared in 17 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 10 in “At the Rikers Jail, the Women Have No Library. But They Have a Book Club,” by Liz Krieger. It tells about how Nora Fried came up with the idea of starting the book club:
The idea came to her during a period of personal crisis. She had recently gotten sober and found solace in reading during the difficult transition. One book in particular sparked her idea: “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” “He learned to read in jail, and from that experience was able to start this amazing movement during the civil rights period,” she said. “And I immediately thought to myself: I wish I could just start a book club in a prison. You still have a voice and a mind. There’s nothing dangerous about giving someone the opportunity to enlighten themselves, and there’s danger in letting someone sit and rot.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word enlighten in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
If you want a better idea of how enlighten can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
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