BRIGHTEN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Brighten

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/brˈaɪtən/ Listen

verb

Brighten v. t. (past & past part. brightened; pres. part. brightening) (From Bright, a.)

To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.

To make illustrious, or more distinguished; to add luster or splendor to. "The present queen would brighten her character, if she would exert her authority to instill virtues into her people."

To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful; as, to brighten one's prospects. "An ecstasy, which mothers only feel, Plays round my heart and brightens all my sorrow."

To make acute or witty; to enliven.

Brighten v. i. To grow bright, or more bright; to become less dark or gloomy; to clear up; to become bright or cheerful. "And night shall brighten into day." "And, all his prospects brightening to the last, His heaven commences ere world be past."

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Etymology of 'Brighten'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Brighten" Quotes from Famous Books

... publicity there is no cure, and no alleviation; but the storms of which you will complain so bitterly while they endure, chequer and by their contrast brighten the sameness of the fair- weather scenes. When sun and storm contend together—when the thick clouds are broken up and pierced by arrows of golden daylight—there will be startling rearrangements and transfigurations of the mountain summits. A sun-dazzling ...

— Essays of Travel • Robert Louis Stevenson

... boxes, filled with delicate satin souvenirs for wedding and birthdays, Christmas tokens of lovely design, little poems with dainty painted covers, blotters and thought books, beautifully decorated, all of which found ready sale. The little mother's sad eyes began to brighten, and Cal ...

— Our Young Folks at Home and Abroad • Various

... to brighten again by an effort: "I have always wanted something like this, that wasn't gorgeous, that wasn't mean. I can't make things. It isn't every one—can make ...

— The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman • H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

... and children. The blank gloom of the place had fallen upon the poor lady. Even when my wife talked about children (good-natured Madame de Moncontour vaunting ours as a prodigy) Lady Clara did not brighten up! Her pair of young ones was exhibited and withdrawn. A something weighed upon the woman. We talked about Ethel's marriage. She said it was fixed for the new year, she believed. She did not know whether Glenlivat had been very ...

— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray

... Lacy replied, "for the single purpose of tendering my sword to the Duke of Gloucester, hoping in his service to brighten the dimmed lustre of ...

— Beatrix of Clare • John Reed Scott

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