English → Latin
“brighten” in Latin
splendidussplendid, bright, glittering; distinguished, noble, illustriousillūminōto illuminate, light up, brighten; to adorn; to make conspicuousillūstrōto illuminate, brighten, light up; to elucidate, explain, make clear; to make famous, render illustriouspoliōto polish, to smoothhilarōto gladden, cheer, make cheerfulexhilarōto gladden, cheer; to rejoice, delight, exhilarate; to revive, rekindle
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
brighten
splendidum or nitidum facere aliquid; in splendorem dare aliquid; nitorem induere alicui rei.
Enlighten, illuminare, illustrare.
Polish, polire.
Gladden, hilarare, exhilarare. To brighten a man up, aliquem eshilarare: the countenance, exhilarare vultum, frontem explicare: the mind, nubila animi serenare, ab animo caliginem dispellere; acuere mentem (sharpen). INTR., illustrari, illuminari; nitescere, splendescere: (of men) diffundi, hilarem se facere. The sky brightens, caeli serenitas redditur, nubes discutiuntur, disserenascit. His face brightens up, frons or vultus se explicat.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for brighten?
- The usual Latin words for “brighten” are splendidus, illūminō, illūstrō; also poliō, hilarō, exhilarō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.