enlightenment Hear it!

enlightenment definition

en·light·en·ment (-mənt)

noun

an enlightening or being enlightened
enlightenment Idioms

the Enlightenment

  1. a mainly 18th-cent. European philosophical movement characterized by a reliance on reason and experience rather than dogma and tradition and by an emphasis on humanitarian political goals and social progress
  2. the period of this movement

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.