How to Use illumination in a Sentence

illumination

noun
  • They traveled to the temple in search of spiritual illumination.
  • When taking photographs indoors, use a flash for illumination.
  • In the movie, Griswold doesn’t get the grand illumination on the first flip of the switch.
    — Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Known as the Buck Moon, the full moon will reach peak illumination in the U.S. at 6:17 a.m.
    — Chantelle Lee, TIME, 19 July 2024
  • Moon: The moon gains its light and illumination from the sun.
    — Meghan Rose, Glamour, 9 Mar. 2023
  • Known as the long night moon or the cold moon, it’s set to reach peak illumination at 4:02 a.m.
    — Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 14 Dec. 2024
  • The illumination in the room gave me the complexion of canned Spam.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 4 June 2021
  • Another showed the dull illumination of the fire overnight, with a home seen near the flames.
    — Rey Covarrubias Jr., The Arizona Republic, 16 Dec. 2024
  • These days are about the coming of the light—warmth, illumination, life anew.
    — Anne Lamott, National Geographic, 19 Nov. 2020
  • From the gauzy illumination of a distant streetlamp, Charlie saw the shape in the trunk, a big shape.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 12 May 2021
  • The moon will look full to our eyes a day either side of peak illumination, Petro said.
    — Angela Eichhorst, CNN, 18 Dec. 2021
  • The guide switches off his helmet and sparks a lighter, which would have been the sole source of illumination until the late 1800s.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Dec. 2019
  • The vast cloud of the Milky Way offers nearly the only illumination until the blue lights of the fire engine switch on.
    — Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2022
  • Their illumination was bright enough to reveal the shape of the corals below.
    — Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic, 14 Aug. 2019
  • Both the mural and the Atrium 2 illumination will remain through the end of June.
    — USA TODAY, 14 June 2019
  • Low mode provides up to 12 hours of illumination while high mode lasts up to six hours.
    — Emily Estep, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Both the mural, and the Atrium 2 illumination, will remain through the end of June.
    — Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati.com, 13 June 2019
  • This pre-lit star keeps the glow going by adding a warm, soft illumination.
    — Grace Smith, Town & Country, 5 Dec. 2022
  • The large parking lot lights gave plenty of illumination to the spots . . .
    — cleveland, 22 Aug. 2022
  • The northern lights are best viewed around new moons when there's little illumination in the sky.
    — Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 11 July 2023
  • But the illumination was turned off after the building was closed in 2010.
    — Steve Brown, Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2020
  • When they are done—the bones and soiled napkins and paper plates in the garbage, and the leftovers for Flavia in the fridge—the entire house goes dark, the only source of illumination the large flat-screen.
    — Han Ong, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Wednesday night is the best time to view both showers, Lunsford said, as the moon wanes and loses about 8% illumination each night.
    — Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 29 July 2024
  • Even the small boost in illumination, and the promise that more might come, seemed to have a spirit-lifting effect.
    — Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2022
  • Bajaj kept the collection of lights in the center of the main dining room that could pass for illumination on a film set.
    — Washington Post, 23 July 2021
  • Her first encounter with the young man, in the pulsing light of a disco, is a capsule study in the contrast between gloom and illumination that shapes the movie.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2023
  • There is nowhere to go but inside, and yet what is inside is what must be saved from illumination.
    — The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
  • The moon will reach peak illumination around 12:35 a.m.
    — Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2023
  • And this protrusion, where all its ports are located, even lights up with a soft, supple glow of RGB illumination.
    — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 7 Jan. 2025
  • The game will include ray-traced global illumination and reflections, along with an in-game benchmark tool.
    — Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'illumination.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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