illumination

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of illuminating.
• noun The state of being illuminated.
• noun A source of light.
• noun Decorative lighting.
• noun Spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.
• noun Clarification; elucidation.
• noun The art or act of decorating a text, page, or initial letter with ornamental designs, images, or lettering.
• noun An example of this art.
• noun Physics The luminous flux per unit area at any point on a surface exposed to incident light.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Supply of light; emanation of luminous rays; light afforded by a luminous body or substance.
• noun The act of illuminating, or the state of being illuminated; a lighting up; specifically, an unusual or profuse display of light; decoration by means of many lights, as in festivity or rejoicing: as, the illumination of a city.
• noun Mental enlightenment; knowledge or insight imparted.
• noun In a special use, the doctrine of the Illuminati; worship of enlightenment or knowledge.
• noun Pictorial ornamentation of books and manuscripts by hand, as practised in the middle ages; adornment by means of pictures, designs, and letters in flat colors, gilt, etc., practised especially in devotional works: as, the art of illumination.
• noun A representation or design in an illuminated work: as, the illuminations of a psalter.
• noun Specifically, the measure of the amount of light falling on a surface.
• noun In the pictorial arts, the quality and quantity of light expressed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated.
• noun Festive decoration of houses or buildings with lights.
• noun Adornment of books and manuscripts with colored illustrations. See Illuminate, v. t., 3.
• noun That which is illuminated, as a house; also, an ornamented book or manuscript.
• noun That which illuminates or gives light; brightness; splendor; especially, intellectual light or knowledge.
• noun (Theol.) The special communication of knowledge to the mind by God; inspiration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act of illuminating, or supplying with light; the state of being illuminated.
• noun Festive decoration of houses or buildings with lights.
• noun Adornment of books and manuscripts with colored illustrations. See illuminate (transitive verb).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a condition of spiritual awareness; divine illumination
• noun painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)
• noun the luminous flux incident on a unit area
• noun the degree of visibility of your environment
• noun an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding