DictionaryAI

light

LYT/laɪt/

Plurallights (some meanings)

Adjectivelighter, lightest

Verblights, lighting, lit

55 meanings of light

Practice

  1. 1
    visible energynoununcountable
    The natural energy that makes things visible, electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths of roughly 400 to 750 nanometers; by extension, nearby invisible radiation such as ultraviolet or infrared light; in everyday speech, brightness itself.

    The light was fading fast over the hills.

    Nothing travels faster than light.

    UsageCommon in natural light, in the light, in poor light and by the light of a candle.

    Similarbrightness, illumination

    Oppositedark, darkness

    Note

    Everyday prose uses the same uncountable noun for the glow in a room, as in Margery Allingham's pictures mellow in the afternoon light.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Margery Allingham describes pictures mellow in the afternoon light; this is narration in The China Governess, chapter 3. fadedpage.com
  2. 2
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A lamp, bulb or other thing that gives out light, whether switched on or not.

    Every light in the house was blazing.

    The lights flickered during the storm.

    UsageYou turn on or switch off the light (not incorrect: open the light). The lights are on means they are giving out light.

    Similarlamp, bulb

  3. 3
    not heavyadjective
    Of little weight; easy to lift, carry, or wield.

    Aluminum is light but strong.

    The bike is so light you can lift it with one hand.

    UsageThe opposite of heavy. Common in light enough to carry and as light as a feather.

    Oppositeheavy

    Note

    Heavy is its natural partner, as when Addison describes weights so strange that he could not guess which was light or heavy.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Addison describes weights whose relative heaviness the essay's narrator cannot guess by holding them, in The Spectator, number 463. gutenberg.org
  4. 4
    pale coloradjective
    Of a color, pale, high in brightness and low in saturation; whitish rather than dark or deep.

    The jacket comes in light and dark versions.

    He wore a light blue shirt to the interview.

    UsageOften used before a color word (light blue, light gray) or of things such as clothes, hair, or skin. The opposite is dark.

    Similarpale, fair

    Oppositedark, deep

  5. 5
    low amountadjective
    Of weather, traffic, work, and the like, slight or small in amount or intensity.

    Light showers are expected in the afternoon.

    The damage was light, a few broken tiles.

    UsageCommon in light rain, light traffic and a light breeze. Contrast heavy rain, heavy traffic and a strong breeze.

    Similarslight, minor, gentle

    Oppositeheavy, severe

  6. 6
    brightenverbtransitive
    To illuminate, or give brightness to, a place or a way.

    Gas lamps lit the streets of the old town.

    One bulb cannot light a stairwell this size.

    UsagePast lit or lighted, with lit more common. Often passive: lit by candles, a well-lit room.

    Similarilluminate, lighten, illumine, brighten

    Oppositedarken

    Note

    Here the shining is the whole point, unlike setting something burning. Both past forms have long lived side by side: Frederic Harrison puts lit and lighted into a single 19th-century sentence, and Dryden's Vesper "had lighted up the sky." Light up serves as a near synonym, as in Dryden's line.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Lit and lighted have long coexisted; Frederic Harrison used both in one nineteenth-century sentence. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Dryden wrote that Vesper had lighted up the sky. gutenberg.org
  7. 7
    set fire toverbtransitive
    To set something burning, or of a match, fire, or burner, to begin to burn.

    They lit the torches at dusk.

    Who will light the candles on the cake?

    UsagePast lit, less often lighted. You light a candle, a fire or a cigarette.

    Similarignite, kindle

    Oppositeextinguish, douse

    Note

    Ignite and kindle are close synonyms, and put out and quench are the opposites. George Hakewill in 1627 writes of a thousand candles all lighted from one; lighted, now the uncommon past form, sits easily in his sentence.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • George Hakewill wrote about a thousand candles all lighted from one. en.wiktionary.org
  8. 8
    nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
    Illumination of the mind or spirit; understanding, or the information that brings it, often with throw, shed, or cast.

    His research cast light on the origins of the plague.

    She saw the light and changed her vote.

    UsageMostly with shed, throw or cast: shed light on a question. See the light means finally understand.

    Similarillumination, insight, understanding, enlightenment

    Oppositedarkness, ignorance

    Note

    Understanding is pictured as illumination, and the figure mostly lives in fixed verb phrases such as throw light on a problem. Shakespeare uses an older pattern, light of something, meaning knowledge of it: "That I had any light from thee of this." H. L. Mencken's exchanges of light with Englishmen keeps the plainer sense of shared information rather than inner revelation.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The wording is "That I had any light from thee of this," spoken by the Duke. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • H. L. Mencken writes of exchanges of light with Englishmen, referring to exchanging information about differences between English and American speech. gutenberg.org
  9. 9
    point of viewnouncountable or uncountable
    A way of regarding something, or the aspect under which it is seen, nearly always after in.

    Later historians saw him in a harsher light.

    Try to see the decision in a positive light.

    UsageNearly always after in: in a new light, in that light. In light of means considering.

    Note

    Older writers counted these aspects freely. Robert South speaks of a thing shown in its several lights, and Addison of the calm lights of mild philosophy. Today's idiom prefers the singular, so the plural now sounds of its period.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Older writers used the plural lights for aspects or ways of regarding something, as Robert South's example demonstrates. ccel.org
    • Addison wrote the phrase calm lights of mild philosophy; Marcus speaks it in Cato, Act I, scene I. gutenberg.org
  10. 10
    traffic signalnouncountable or uncountable
    A traffic signal, or by extension the intersection it controls.

    The lights are out at the main crossing.

    Wait for the light, then cross.

    UsageSingular or plural: wait for the light, stop at the lights. To run a red light is to drive through it.

    Similarsignal

  11. 11
    adjective
    Of vehicles, aircraft and weapons, smaller or lighter in build than others of their kind.

    The airfield handles only light planes.

    The army moved its light artillery across the river on ordinary trucks.

    Oppositeheavy

  12. 12
    nouncountable or uncountable
    Open view or publicity; the state of being seen, used after come to or bring to.

    Nothing of this came to light until he died.

    The report brought several abuses to light.

    UsageFixed phrases with no article: something comes to light, or someone brings it to light.

    Note

    Shakespeare sets it against darkness in Measure for Measure, where Lucio claims the duke would have dark deeds darkly answered and would never bring them to light.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Shakespeare contrasts darkness with bringing deeds to light in Measure for Measure. folger.edu
  13. 13
    diet (food)adjective
    Of food and drink, reduced in fat, calories, alcohol, or salt compared with the usual version.

    The cafe sells a light dressing for salads.

    He asked for light mayonnaise on his sandwich.

    UsageCommon on labels: light beer, light mayonnaise. Brands often spell it lite.

    Similardiet, low-fat

    Oppositeregular, full-fat

  14. 14
    for funadjective
    Not serious or weighty: meant to entertain rather than to be grave, said or done without seriousness, or of little importance.

    His light, joking manner at the funeral struck some relatives as disrespectful.

    After a long week, she wanted something light to watch, not another crime drama.

    UsageCommon in light reading, light verse, light entertainment and something light to watch.

    Similarfrivolous, playful, trivial

    Oppositeserious, heavy, grave, weighty

    Note

    Its home is genre and manner, and it is always measured against weight. In Hamlet, Polonius sets the scale: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light, with tragedy at one end and comedy at the other. Light verse, the kind Ogden Nash wrote, names a genre rather than a fault. Hawthorne shows the sharper edge, mocking humor laboriously light, where the word praises nothing.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of light apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–2, 8–10, 12, 23, 26–27, 30

From Middle English light, from Old English lēoht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *lewk- ("to shine"). It is related to Dutch licht, German Licht, and Latin lūx.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

Meanings 6–7

The verb began as Old English līehtan, meaning to give light or shine, and became Middle English lighten. Its Proto-Germanic form was *liuhtijaną, and German leuchten, "to shine", is a relative.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Meanings 4, 15, 18

From Middle English light, from Old English lēoht ("luminous, bright, clear, beautiful"), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- ("light"). It is related to Dutch licht and German licht.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Meanings 3, 5, 11, 13–14, 16–17, 19–22, 24–25, 28–29

This light, the opposite of heavy, was Old English lēoht. Proto-Germanic had it as *linhtaz or *līhtaz, and the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁lengʷʰ- also meant "light". German leicht, Swedish lätt and Latin levis are related.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Meanings 31–32

The verb took shape in Proto-Germanic as *linhtijaną, built on *linhtaz ("light"), and passed into Old English as līhtan ("to relieve"). From there it became Middle English lighten.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts