Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive & intransitive verb To make or become bright or brighter.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To grow bright or more bright; become less dark or gloomy: literally or figuratively.
- To make bright or brighter in any manner; shed light on; make to shine; increase the luster of.
- To dispel gloom from; cheer; make gay or cheerful: as, to
brighten prospects. - To make illustrious or more distinguished; heighten the splendor of; add luster to.
- To make acute or witty; sharpen the faculties of.
- To add brilliancy to the colors of (prints, etc.), by boiling them in a solution of soda.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- transitive verb To make illustrious, or more distinguished; to add luster or splendor to.
- transitive verb To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful.
- transitive verb To make acute or witty; to enliven.
- intransitive verb To grow bright, or more bright; to become less dark or gloomy; to clear up; to become bright or cheerful.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To make
bright or brighter in color - verb transitive To add
luster orsplendor to - verb transitive (
figuratively ) To make morecheerful andpleasant ; toenliven - verb intransitive To grow bright, or more bright in color; to
clear up - verb intransitive To become brighter or more cheerful in mood
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb become clear
- verb make lighter or brighter
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Cretak allowed her expression to brighten, as if with great relief.
CATALYST OF SORROWS Margaret Wander Bonanno 2004
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Cretak allowed her expression to brighten, as if with great relief.
CATALYST OF SORROWS Margaret Wander Bonanno 2004
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Proponents urge us to "brighten" clouds by spraying up droplets of sea water, as scientists are now trying to do with a little help from Bill Gates.
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I like lime wedge or even a cucumber slice in my water ... do you have any favorite ways to 'brighten' a plain glass of water?
LENNDEVOURS: 2007
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I like lime wedge or even a cucumber slice in my water ... do you have any favorite ways to 'brighten' a plain glass of water?
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IF I wanted to "brighten" up my pesto a bit I would stick it back in my food processor and add a bit more lime juice I love the brightness of lime juice in pesto and that's it.
How to Freeze Fresh Basil Kalyn Denny 2008
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Just kind of brighten you up a little, here on this Sunday morning.
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I say Jared, because whenever I got bogged down, he was there to kind of brighten me up.
For the Children: Lessons from a Visionary Principal; How We Can Save Our Public School 1993
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The face, at this moment, was a sad one, but its lines expressed no weak surrender to dolefulness; her lips were courageous, and her eyes such as brighten readily with joy.
Denzil Quarrier George Gissing 1880
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Proponents urge us to "brighten" clouds by spraying up droplets of sea water, as scientists are now trying to do with a little help from Bill Gates.
look_it_up_family commented on the word brighten
I've never before seen this use of "brighten" to mean something like ameliorate:
"They drank linden tea to brighten a cold or tame the nerves." The Zookeeper's Wife, pg 21
I like the synonym "ameliorate" because this use of brighten was in the context of linden honey and its uses.
March 31, 2009