lighten up
verb
Simple meaning
Make more cheerful through the use of color.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lytuhnuhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlaɪtəˈnʌp
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.”
idiomaticintransitivetransitive
To make (something) or to become less serious and more cheerful or casual; to relax.
“After a glass of wine, he lightened up a bit.”
transitive
To lighten (something): to decrease its weight.
Become lighter
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 up is a common word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- 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.
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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.