Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. People claiming to be unusually enlightened with regard to a subject.
- n. Any of various groups claiming special religious enlightenment.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Eccles., persons who had received baptism, in which ceremony a lighted taper was given to them as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment.
- [capitalized] A name given to different religious societies or sects because of their claim to perfection or enlightenment in religious matters. The most noted among them were the Alumbrados (the Enlightened) of Spain in the sixteenth century, an ephemeral society of Belgium and northern France (also called
Guérinets ) in the seventeenth century, and an association of mystics in southern France in the eighteenth century, combining the doctrines of Swedenborg with the methods of the freemasons. - [capitalized] See Order of the Illuminati, below.
- In general, persons who affect to possess extraordinary knowledge or gifts, whether justly or not; persons who lay claim to superior knowledge in any department: often used satirically.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Literally, those who are enlightened.
- n. (Eccl.) Persons in the early church who had received baptism; in which ceremony a lighted taper was given them, as a symbol of the spiritual illumination they has received by that sacrament.
- n. (Eccl. Hist.) Members of a sect which sprung up in Spain about the year 1575. Their principal doctrine was, that, by means of prayer, they had attained to so perfect a state as to have no need of ordinances, sacraments, good works, etc.; -- called also
Alumbrados ,Perfectibilists , etc. - n. (Mod. Hist.) Members of certain associations in Modern Europe, who combined to promote social reforms, by which they expected to raise men and society to perfection, esp. of one originated in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingolstadt, which spread rapidly for a time, but ceased after a few years.
- n. An obscure sect of French Familists
- n. The Hesychasts, Mystics, and Quietists
- n. The Rosicrucians.
- n. Any persons who profess special spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.
Etymologies
- Latin illūminātī, from pl. of illūminātus, past participle of illūmināre, to light up; see illuminate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“By the way, that symbol in the picture, that reads "illuminati" - wiki it.”
Angels and Demons Viral - Canister of Antimatter Discovered! « FirstShowing.net
“We've heard about some group called the illuminati which is purported to be behind the genocidal nation.”
“Li’s Superiors, a group known as the illuminati were the sole sponsors of the tournament.”
Screenwriter Justin Marks Explains Street Fighter Adaptation « FirstShowing.net
“The hypocrisy, double-speak and pretentiousness among the so-called illuminati is astounding.”
“Can you give a list of rappers that are/have been accused of being a form of "illuminati" ..”
“You must admit, most kids (more specificly here) blindly use the term "illuminati" without knowing what the fcking word even means.”
“The organization called the "illuminati" will be invoking a ceremony called: THE DARK MOTHER.”
“I agree with a lot of what you say, but is it really necessary to throw the whole "illuminati" stuff in there?”
“Refined through the centuries, secret societies evolved for the purposes of training, recruitment, to be utilized as proving grounds, meanwhile expanding the influence and power of the capstone groups such as illuminati, Jesuits, High Masons, Builderbergs, Committee of 300,”
“COMEON!!!!! you poor screwed up right wing paranoid wankers - your mother walks in the door with three pointed earings and you open up on her with the good ol 'assult weapon - she would obviously be' illuminati '.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘illuminati’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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New Word Order
goal is governmen..., gravedigger, tragedy, hope, state department, united nations, disarmament, new world order, slavery, eugenics, unesco, illuminati and 53 more...
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Literally
Words with definitions that contain the word "literally."
Biblicist, cy pres, literally, lit., loan translation, metaphrase, polite, Embarrass, repentance, rabbi, sparkle, article and 30 more...
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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ashton's Words
genocide, boingy, umwelt, zeitgeist, fungible, vorpal, spawn, discordian, fnord, surreptitious, xyzzy, corruption and 122 more...
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born2badored's Words
livid, fnordy, grok, bloopy, bokonon, disinformation, psychometrics, trip hop, acid jazz, bauble, dynamic, constant and 91 more...
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pcofdirt's Words
besmirched, befuddled, ai, sanguineous, antidisestablishm..., ablation, ascertain, ascerbic, aardvark, begot, benign, buggery and 118 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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What, another list?
ravishing, ravenous, pronk, brinksmanship, jaspe, mottle, chasm, testy, temperament, ponder, personally, phantom and 206 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 1999 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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mouserie's list
Words that I find are amazing
vicissitude, mouse, indubitably, epistolary, awesome, tipperary, shadow, grimoire, hippopotomonstros..., novel, satire, confessional and 91 more...
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stun the opposition!
luddite, phillistine, pedant, aesthete, libertine, tyro, dilettante, neophyte, mendicant, troglodyte, sybarite, charlatan and 23 more...
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crimes
nicks
sedition, espionage, mutiny, duress, contempt, corruption, asylum, rendition, extradition, controversy, deceit, intercept and 19 more...
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The Truth is In Here
Don't read this list or they'll be after you, too!
illuminati, freemasons, skull and bones, bohemian grove, all-seeing eye, big brother, coverup, area 51, new world order, federal reserve, catholic church, opus dei and 17 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for illuminati.

dailyword This group was mentioned in the "Angels And Demons" movie. Jun 12, 2012
ruzuzu "Order of the Illuminati, a celebrated secret society founded by Professor Adam Weishaupt at Ingolstadt in Bavaria in 1776, originally called the Society of the Perfectibilists. It was deistic and republican in principle, aimed at general enlightenment and emancipation from superstition and tyranny, had an elaborate organization, was to some extent associated with freemasonry, and spread widely through Europe, though the Illuminati were never very numerous. The order excited much antagonism, and was suppressed in Bavaria in 1785, but lingered for some time elsewhere."
--The Century Dictionary of the English Language Sep 8, 2010