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Lighten vs Dawn - What's the difference?

lighten | dawn |

As a verb lighten

is to alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

As a proper noun dawn is

sometimes given to a girl born at that time of day.

lighten

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.
  • To make light or lighter in weight.
  • To make less serious or more cheerful.
  • * Bible, Psalms xxxiv. 5
  • They looked unto him, were lightened .
  • To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
  • to lighten''' an apartment with lamps or gas; to '''lighten the streets
  • * Dryden
  • A key of fire ran all along the shore, / And lightened all the river with a blaze.
  • To become light or lighter in weight.
  • To become less serious or more cheerful.
  • To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
  • To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash.
  • * Shakespeare
  • This dreadful night, / That thunders, lightens , opens graves, and roars / As doth the lion.
  • To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
  • * Shakespeare
  • His eye lightens forth / Controlling majesty.
  • To descend; to light.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.
  • To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
  • * Sir J. Davies
  • Lighten my spirit with one clear heavenly ray.

    Conjugation

    (en-conj-simple)

    Derived terms

    * lighten up

    dawn

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To begin to brighten with daylight.
  • * Bible, (w) xxviii. 1
  • In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdaleneto see the sepulchre.
  • To start to appear or be realized.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.}}
  • To begin to give promise; to begin to appear or to expand.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • in dawning youth
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • when life awakes, and dawns at every line

    Derived terms

    * dawn on

    See also

    *

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The morning twilight period immediately before sunrise.
  • (countable) The rising of the sun.
  • (uncountable) The time when the sun rises.
  • (uncountable) The beginning.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}

    Synonyms

    * (rising of the sun) break of dawn, dayspring, sunrise * (time when the sun rises) break of dawn, break of day, crack of dawn, daybreak, dayspring, sunrise, sunup * (beginning) beginning, onset, start

    Antonyms

    * dusk

    Hypernyms

    * twilight

    Derived terms

    * crack of dawn * dawn chorus * it is always darkest before the dawn

    See also

    * crepuscular

    Anagrams

    * wand ----