alight

CEFRC1

/əˈlaɪt/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Burning and giving off flames.

  2. 02

    verb

    To get down from a bus, train, or other vehicle.

Examples

  • The fire brigade arrived to find the house well alight.

  • His face was alight with joy.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Often followed by from or off: to get off an animal which one has been riding; to dismount; to descend or exit from a vehicle; hence, to complete one's journey; to stop.

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.

  2. To come down or go down; to descend.

More examples

In context

  • She sets your world alight.

  • A flying bird alights upon a tree.

  • He alighted from his horse.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The passenger waited for the train to stop before choosing to blank from the carriage.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English alighten (“to descend from a place: to dismount, get off; to descend to a place: to arrive or stop (at a place); to land; to drop; to attack; of lightning: to strike; to leap on to, mount; to descend in rank; to cause (someone) to lose rank; to come forth, spring from; to alleviate, relieve; (Christianity) of Jesus: to come down to earth from heaven, become incarnate; to descend (to hell); of the Holy Spirit, angels, miracles, etc.: to descend (from heaven); to descend (upon someone); to appear in a place”) [and other forms], from a merger of: * Old English ālīhtan (“to alight, dismount”), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to descend, al...