lighten
verb
Simple meaning
Make more cheerful through the use of color.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lytuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlaɪtən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make more cheerful through the use of color
“The conversation lightened me up a bit.”
Alleviate or remove (pressure or stress) or make less oppressive
transitive
To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.
transitive
To make less serious or more cheerful.
transitive
To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
Reduce the weight on; make lighter
“She lightened the load on the tired donkey.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make more cheerful through the use of color
Used this way, lighten is a common word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The conversation lightened me up a bit.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Makeverb
“The conversation lightened me up a bit.”
Reduceverb
“She lightened the load on the tired donkey.”
More ways to use lighten
- “The conversation lightened me up a bit.”verb
- “She lightened the load on the tired donkey.”verb
- “After a glass of wine, he lightened up a bit.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity that occurs late in pregnancy.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.