BRIGHTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does brighten mean? 

• BRIGHTEN (verb)
  The verb BRIGHTEN has 2 senses:

1. make more cheerful through the use of color

2. become clear

  Familiarity information: BRIGHTEN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BRIGHTEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they brighten    ... he / she / it brightens   
Past simple: brightened   
Past participle: brightened   
-ing form: brightening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more cheerful through the use of color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

brighten; lighten; lighten up

Context example:

The paint will brighten the room

Hypernyms (to "brighten" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

darken (make dark or darker)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become clear

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

brighten; clear; clear up; light up

Context example:

The sky cleared after the storm

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
It is ----ing

 Context examples 

If I had beheld a thousand roses blowing in a top set of chambers, in that withered Gray's Inn, they could not have brightened it half so much.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Not at all,” he replied; “they were brightened by the exercise.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A black hole destroying a star, an event astronomers call "stellar tidal disruption," releases an enormous amount of energy, brightening the surroundings in an event called a flare.

(Studies Find Echoes of Black Holes Eating Stars, NASA)

I did what I could to brighten them up, and I suppose that the effort did me good, for I forgot how tired I was.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The moon is a familiar sight in our sky, brightening dark nights and reminding us of space exploration, past and present.

(November Supermoon a Spectacular Sight, NASA)

It is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 11, when it could be visible in small optical telescopes for one or two nights before it fades as the distance from Earth rapidly increases.

(Asteroid to Fly Safely Past Earth on April 19, NASA)

For the first time his arms folded her gently and with sympathy, and she acknowledged it with a happy movement and a brightening face.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The red planet will brighten this house in a way the others could not, and together offer you opportunities for a rich emotional life.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

One of the most curious things to come out of our observations of Io is the periodic brightening seen at Loki Patera every 400 to 600 days.

(Massive Lava Waves Detected on Solar System’s Most Volcanically Active Object, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

At last he started in his chair, and his eyes brightened.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)