Providing knowledge or understanding that helps clarify something confusing or mysterious.
From 'enlighten,' combining 'en-' (to cause) with 'light.' The word uses the metaphor of light dispelling darkness, which philosophers have used for thousands of years to represent knowledge.
The Enlightenment was a 17th-18th century movement where thinkers used this light metaphor to spread knowledge, believing reason and science could illuminate humanity out of ignorance—it's why we still call gaining knowledge 'seeing the light.'
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