enlightenment
pronunciation
How to pronounce enlightenment in British English:
UK [ɪnˈlaɪtnmənt]
How to pronounce enlightenment in American English:
US [ɪnˈlaɪtnmənt]
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- Noun:
- education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge
- (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness
Word Origin
- enlightenment (n.)
- 1660s, "action of enlightening," from enlighten + -ment. Used only in figurative sense, of spiritual enlightenment, etc. Attested from 1865 as a translation of German Aufklärung, a name for the spirit of independent thought and rationalistic system of 18c. Continental philosophers.For the philosophes, man was not a sinner, at least not by nature; human nature -- and this argument was subversive, in fact revolutionary, in their day -- is by origin good, or at least neutral. Despite the undeniable power of man's antisocial passions, therefore, the individual may hope for improvement through his own efforts -- through education, participation in politics, activity in behalf of reform, but not through prayer. [Peter Gay, "The Enlightenment"]
Example
- 1. Enlightenment is man 's leaving his self-caused immaturity .
- 2. Enlightenment reformers pinned particularly strong hopes on education .
- 3. Today , the enlightenment tends to be dismissed .
- 4. Yet the enlightenment thinkers had struck a chord .
- 5. Possessing this ability opens the gateway to enlightenment and spiritual awakening .