illumination

noun

1 the flickering illumination of the match | a floodlamp provided additional illumination:

light, lighting, radiance, gleam, glitter, brilliance, glow, glare, dazzle, flash, shimmer;

shining, gleaming, glowing;

irradiation, luminescence, incandescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence;

rare illumining, irradiance, lucency, lambency, effulgence, refulgence, coruscation, fulguration.

▷antonyms darkness.

2 the illumination of a medieval manuscript:

decoration, illustration, embellishment, adornment, ornamentation.

3 these books form the most sustained analysis and illumination of the subject:

clarification, elucidation, explanation, revelation, explication, exposition, exegesis, rationalization.

4 there were moments of real illumination:

enlightenment, insight, revelation, discovery;

understanding, awareness;

explanation, instruction;

learning, education, information, knowledge, edification;

informal an aha moment.

▷antonyms ignorance.

illumination Oxford Dictionary of English