illuminate
v.to light up a place or an object. It can also mean to make a difficult idea much easier to understand.
v.to supply or brighten with light; to clarify or explain a subject by providing additional information. Often used metaphorically in academic contexts to describe the resolution of intellectual obscurity.
“The bright streetlights illuminate the dark alley.”
“The professor used a simple analogy to illuminate the complex laws of physics for the first-year students.”
“While the primary purpose of the floodlights was to illuminate the stadium, they also served to highlight the architectural details of the surrounding historic buildings.”
The verb is transitive and requires a direct object; it is frequently used in both literal and figurative contexts.
“They stained the cells with fluorescent dye to illuminate each cell's nucleus.”
“Still, it illuminates certain aspects of the play through its exaggerations.”
Common in culture and science writing
From Middle English illuminaten, borrowed from Latin illūminātus, perfect passive participle of illūminō (“lighten, light up, show off”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from in + lūminō (“light up”), from lūmen (“light”). Cognate with Old English lȳman (“to glow, shine”). More at leam.
From Latin illūminātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. For sense 3, see also Lumières.
From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.