lightening

Plurallightenings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of lighten. Use it after is or was, or as a noun.

   The sky was lightening as the sun came up.

   He is lightening his backpack by leaving the extra water at home.

   Note
2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of making something lighter, or the lighter state that comes after.

   The lightening of her backpack made the walk home much easier.

   We watched the slow lightening of the sky before sunrise.

   Similareasing, brightening, reduction, lessening

   Oppositedarkening

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The feeling of the womb dropping lower in the body before the birth begins.

   She felt the lightening about two weeks before her daughter was born.

   The nurse asked if she had noticed any lightening yet.

   Note
4. 4
   noununcountable

   Taking some of the load, often oil, off a ship so it sits higher in the water.

   The big oil ship waited at sea for lightening before it could reach the shallow port.

   After the lightening, the ship floated high enough to pass through the shallow river.

   Similarlightering

   Note

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