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shed light on

verb

Simple meaning

To illuminate; to make clear.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

shehdlytahn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʃɛdˈlaɪˈtɑn

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitivealso figurative

    To illuminate; to make clear.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: To illuminate; to make clear.

Used this way, shed light on is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Clear and precise
Usage feel
Precise and approving

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.