Illuminate

Question

Is the word illuminate either transitive and intransitive?For example:The lamp illuminates.The lamp is illuminated.(They mean the same, right?)Thanks.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Yes, but your uses seem odd to me; perhaps your examples lack sufficient context. Here are the usual uses:

The lamp illuminates the hallway nicely.
The hall is illuminated nicely by the lamp.

Liveinjapan · Answer

Aha, got it! Thanks, Mr. M.

Anonymous · Answer

All verbs in English can be either transitive or intransitive. There are verbs which are supposedly transitive or intransitive only, but even these can be put into the intransitive or transitive usage, respectively. (Note that only when a verb is transitive can it have a passive voice.)

"Illuminate" is a verb which is normally used transitively:

"The lamp illuminates the hall."

"The hall is illuminated by the lamp." (The passive version of the previous sentence.)

But it can also be used intransitively:

"The holy man's presence illuminates and inspires."

In the example you gave,

"The lamp illuminates."
"The lamp is illuminated."

These are not the same - although I can see what you're getting at, they do seem very similar, and a philosophical-type of argument might be made that they mean essentially the same thing, but grammatically they differ. The first sentence is intransitive (no direct object). The second sentence is passive, so here the verb is transitive, since only transitive verbs can have a passive voice. The second sentence is the passive version of something like: "The light bulb illuminates the lamp (direct object of illuminates).", which, turned into passive is: "The lamp is illuminated (by the light bulb)."

CalifJim · Answer

LiveinjapanIs the word illuminate either transitive and intransitive?

My dictionary only has it as transitive. To say that the lamp illuminates is a little strange, but it might be taken to mean that the lamp illuminates things, is capable of illuminating things, is capable of making things more clearly visible by shining light on them.

I can find two meanings in the second sentence.

1. The lamp is [illuminated / on]. The lamp is now giving off light. It is lit up. illuminated is more like an adjective here.

2. The lamp is illuminated by the light from the window. Something other than the lamp is illuminating the lamp. The lamp itself is off, however, i.e., it is not illuminated in the sense shown in 1.

CJ

Liveinjapan · Answer

Thanks, CJ and Anon. I understand!

Illuminate

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