Definition of Enlightenment

1. Noun. Education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge.

Generic synonyms: Education
Specialized synonyms: Edification, Sophistication, Satori
Derivative terms: Enlighten
Antonyms: Unenlightenment

2. Noun. (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness.
Exact synonyms: Nirvana
Category relationships: Hindooism, Hinduism, Buddhism
Generic synonyms: Beatification, Beatitude, Blessedness

3. Noun. A movement in Europe from about 1650 until 1800 that advocated the use of reason and individualism instead of tradition and established doctrine. "The Enlightenment brought about many humanitarian reforms"
Exact synonyms: Age Of Reason
Generic synonyms: Reform Movement
Generic synonyms: Age, Historic Period

Definition of Enlightenment

1. n. Act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed.

2. n. = AufklÄrung.

Definition of Enlightenment

1. Proper noun. (context definite article) A 17th and 18th-century philosophical movement in European history; the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason emphasizing rationalism. ¹

2. Noun. An act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed. ¹

3. Noun. A concept in spirituality, philosophy and psychology related to achieving clarity of perception, reason and knowledge. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Enlightenment

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Enlightenment

enlessen
enlessened
enlessening
enlessens
enleve
enlight
enlighted
enlighten
enlightenable
enlightened
enlightener
enlighteners
enlighteneth
enlightening
enlighteningly
enlightenment
enlightenments
enlightens
enlighting
enlights
enlimn
enlimned
enlimning
enlimns
enlink
enlinked
enlinking
enlinks
enlist
enlisted

Literary usage of Enlightenment

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1909)
"If the age of the Enlightenment be called an unhistorical age, it is so only in the sense that it cultivated history not so much as an end in itself as for ..."

2. A Beginner's History of Philosophy by Herbert Ernest Cushman (1911)
"This second period of modern thought — the Enlightenment — begins when the " new man" turns away from his intellectual struggles with his environment and ..."

3. A Student's History of Philosophy by Arthur Kenyon Rogers (1921)
"The French Enlightenment. Voltaire and the Encyclopedists. ... The French Enlightenment. — The results of the English Enlightenment were introduced into ..."

4. A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker (1918)
"In Germany Pietism, with its emphasis on feeling, preceded the Enlightenment (Aufklarung), though continuing to run parallel to the latter movement when ..."

5. The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: A Handbook of Mental Training Based on the by Nyanaponika, Nyanaponika A. Thera (1998)
"And how do the seven Factors of Enlightenment, cultivated and regularly practised, ... Herein, monks, a monk develops the enlightenment factors Mindfulness, ..."

6. The Sexual life of the child by Albert Moll (1919)
"In so far as the enlightenment has to do with purely biological processes, ... The school may even be the best place for sexual enlightenment regarding the ..."

7. A History of Philosophy by Frank Thilly (1914)
"PHILOSOPHY OF THE Enlightenment 55. PROGRESS OP Enlightenment We have described the modern spirit as a spirit of revolt against medieval society, ..."

8. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"French "enlightenment" also influenced him, especially in the persona of Voltaire and his royal adept, Frederick the Great. Joseph viewed with jealous ..."

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