brightening

verb

present participle of brighten
as in lightening
to become glad or hopeful the glum soccer player started to brighten upon being told that his injury would not jeopardize his career

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of brightening If your grout isn't horrendous with dirt or stains, this might be a great cleaner for brightening the lines. — Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 25 June 2026 Sunlight colors the water behind her, brightening a few strands of her hair. — Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026 Try a low stakes upgrade by brightening your profile photo, helping a simple hello travel farther right now. — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 15 June 2026 The electric blue shade adds such a fun pop of color to a summer wardrobe, instantly brightening up basics like white jeans, denim shorts, or neutral trousers. — Rosie Marder, Travel + Leisure, 24 June 2026 With a steadily brightening Sun, when does the Earth either get too hot or too CO2-starved for the base of the food chain to survive? — Scott K. Johnson, ArsTechnica, 15 June 2026 Venus conjoins Jupiter in Cancer, brightening your 3rd House of Communication with warmth, sincerity, and useful connection. — Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2026 With ingredients like pumice and 10% AHA (in the form of skin-brightening glycolic and lactic acids), the product effectively banishes dead skin and smooths out uneven sandpaper-like texture on the body. — Cheryl Fenton, Parents, 14 June 2026 Sabrina Carpenter posted a photo on Instagram of her makeup and featured the Make Beauty Skin Mimetic Concealer, a brightening concealer used by Courteney Cox and Hailey Bieber. — Reece Andavolgyi, InStyle, 28 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brightening
  1. lightening
  2. glowing
  3. reviving
Verb
  • Hydrogen peroxide is great for lightening stains in general.
    — Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano, The Spruce, 18 June 2026
  • Get bangs like no other and still avoid bulk with the help of lightening layers.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 16 June 2026
Definition of lightening
Verb
  • In February 2004, Hargitay was glowing alongside Hermann at the Writers Guild Awards.
    — Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 6 July 2026
  • While the show continued as scheduled, spectators could only see colors glowing through the marine fog.
    — Evgenia Anastasakos, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
Definition of glowing
Verb
  • Corum is reviving its iconic Coin watch, first created in 1964 by ingeniously slicing a 22-karat gold Double Eagle coin.
    — Roberta Naas, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
  • Perhaps the primary force behind reviving his memory was his brother Morrison Foster, who published a biography about him in 1896.
    — Christopher Lynch, The Conversation, 1 July 2026
Definition of reviving

Browse Nearby Words

brightened
brightening
brightens
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Cite this Entry

“Brightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brightening. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on brightening

Nglish: Translation of brightening for Spanish Speakers

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