The Phrasal Verb 'Light Up' Explained
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'light up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about the phrasal verb 'light up' and in it, I will explain four different ways it is used in everyday English. Is it one that you have heard of before? Perhaps you are familiar with it in the sense of illuminating something, but did you also know that it can be used to talk about both a change of mood and smoking cigarettes? I will explain all of this in the post and, as per usual, there will be lots of natural example sentences to show you how to use in a correct way. There is a also a bonus section at the end where Iill introduce you to some common idioms that feature the phrasal verb 'light up'. So, let's make a start and see what the phrasal verb 'light up' is all about....
QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'light up'?The phrasal verb 'light up' has four main meanings in English....
Keep reading to learn how to use each of these. |
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
Please don't forget to like or comment if you enjoyed the post! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you. James 😊 |
THE BASICS
LIGHT UP: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Medium |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Lit up - lighted up / Lit up - lighted up |
Separable? | Sometimes |
Before we dive in to the various meanings of the phrasal verb 'light up', I think we should firstly ensure that you know all of the relevant information about the words that form it: the verb 'to light' and the particle 'up'....
Light - You will undoubtedly be familiar with the word 'light' first and foremost as a noun, meaning the form of electromagnetic radiation that enables people and animals to see things. It can also be used as an adjective to mean not heavy, not dark or not serious. Less commonly, we also have the verb 'to light', which refers to setting something on fire or making something illuminated and bright.
'To light' belongs to a small group of English verbs that have two accepted past tense and past participle forms: 'lit' and 'lighted'. 'Lit' is by far the more common of the two and is frequently used in everyday and informal language, whereas 'lighted' tends to be used more in formal and historic language and can be used more to create an adjective e.g. a lighted candle.
Before electricity was used, people used to light candles at nighttime.
We lit the bonfire and sat around it singing songs.
Would you mind lighting the barbecue if I prepare the food?
A single lamp lit the entire room.
The stage was beautifully lit for the performance.
Kevin lighted a cigarette and took a big drag.
Up - The particle 'up' is one that features extremely often in phrasal verbs and can be added to introduce a wide variety of different ideas. These include the idea of literally moving in an upwards direction (go up), an increase (pick up), as well as ideas like completion (wrap up), and improvement (cheer up).
Now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'light up'....
MEANING 1: To illuminate something
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To illuminate, to light |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's begin with the first meaning of the phrasal verb 'light up', which is 'to illuminate something', or in other words, 'to make something more visible by shining a light on it'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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It is possible that you read this first meaning and are now wondering what the difference is here between the verb 'to light' and 'to light up'. They are indeed both pretty similar in the fact that they both mean to provide light to something and somewhere and make it brighter, however there is a subtle difference between the two.
We use the verb 'to light' to talk about providing illumination to a place so that people can see what they are doing when it would otherwise be dark. On the other hand, 'light up' tends to emphasise the effect of the illumination, often making something appear brighter and more visible. In this way, 'to light' tends to focus on the functional aspect of providing light, while 'light up' places more stress on the brightness that results from it and can therefore sometimes have a more aesthetic sense. For example, in Paris the Eiffel Tower is lit up at night so that it is bright, visible and visually appealing to the many tourists who visit the city.
We don't only use 'light up' when something is illuminated intentionally by people, as it can also be used to talk about when lightning or stars light up the night sky, when the setting sun lights up the clouds (see picture) around it and when a fire lights up the space in which it is blazing. The main idea is that the light that something gives off illuminates something else, making it brighter and more visible. This is especially true when there is a noticeable change from darkness to brightness.
Example sentences....
Every New Year's Eve at midnight, fireworks light up the night sky.
A flash of lightning lit up the whole valley.
Streetlights light up the road after dark.
The full moon lit up the garden.
Hundreds of candles lit up the church.
The headlights lit the narrow country lane up.
The rising sun lit up the mountain peaks.
Christmas lights lit up the houses along the street.
A sudden flash lit the room up.
Unlike the standard verb 'to light', which is normally transitive, 'light up' can be used both transitively and intransitively (with and without a direct object). For example, you can say both "the room lit up" and "lightning lit up the room". It is very common to use this when talking about a device or machine that emits its own light when it is activated. Here, the emphasis is on the light coming on and making the object more visible. A classic example of this is a mobile phone (cellphone), which lights up when a call, message or notification is received.
As the example sentences above are all showing transitive usage, here are some example sentences of it being used intransitively....
My phone lights up when somebody calls or texts me.
The gaming controller lit up when we playing it in the dark.
The car dashboard will light up when you turn on the engine.
The garden lights up automatically after dark.
The entire stadium lit up just before the match began.
The horizon lit up as the sun began to rise.
MEANING 2: To look happy
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | |
Separable? | No |
The second meaning of the phrasal verb 'light up' is a really lovely one that is full of happiness and positivity and means 'to look happy'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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It is easy to see when someone is in love when all you have to do is mention the name of the person that they are in love with and, regardless of their mood, you see them suddenly start smiling. I've seen it with my friends many times and I probably do it myself too.
When somebody's face suddenly changes in a positive way like this, we can say that their face 'lights up'. It is a very noticeable physical response when someone sees or hears something, which could be the name of someone they love, some good news or receiving a present on their birthday. It is very common to use it with children as they are often so joyful and free with their emotions.
As you can see from the list of commonly used nouns above, we mainly use this application with the nouns 'face' and 'eyes' as these are the two parts of our bodies that express joy and excitement. It is also possible to just say that a person 'lit up' to describe when they suddenly become visibly happier or more cheerful either after seeing or hearing something or when they start talking about a subject that is dear to their hearts.
Example sentences....
Eleanor's face lit up when she saw her children.
His eyes lit up when I mentioned the possibility of a promotion.
Caroline lit up when she heard the good news.
The little boy’s face lit up when he opened his present.
Alfred immediately lit up when his old friend walked into the room.
Naomi's eyes lit up with excitement when she saw the puppy.
My Dad's face lit up with delight when we told him he had won the match.
Joan always lights up when she talks about her grandchildren.
You should have seen his face light up when he realised we had bought him a new bike.
MEANING 3: To become busy
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | |
Separable? | Yes |
The third meaning of the phrasal verb 'light up' is perhaps the least common of the four meanings that we will look at and means 'to become busy'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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With this meaning, the focus is on equipment and websites that are used for communication. If there is some news or public information that causes lots of people to communicate about it or try to make contact with others at the same time, we can say that a communication system lights up as a result of all of the people who are suddenly using it.
For example, if a big story breaks in the news, lots of people are likely to take to social media to comment on it and discuss it and so you could say that "social media lit up as a result of this news". Consequently, this usage of 'light up' is one that you can often find in journalistic English.
The reason that we use this in this way may be because, in the past, when something caused a lot of people to make telephone calls at the same time, the lights on telephone switchboards (an old device that was used to connect calls) would illuminate to indicate incoming calls to the operator. Although this type of equipment does still exist, you are much more likely to hear it being used to talk about something online or in the digital world these days. Of course, is only my theory and this usage of 'light up' could well have evolved more generally from the lights on communication systems becoming active when there was a sudden increase in activity.
Example sentences....
The switchboard lit up with calls after the announcement.
Social media lit up when the company revealed its new product.
The group chat lit up after someone shared the news.
The comments section lit up within minutes of the video being posted.
The emergency services' phone lines lit up with reports of the incident.
His inbox lit up with messages after the story went public.
The message board lit up with speculation following the announcement.
As soon as the rumour started spreading, the company's internal chat lit up.
The customer service lines lit up after customers received the email.
MEANING 4: To smoke a cigarette
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To spark up |
Separable? | Yes |
Ok, so if you pay a lot of attention to detail, you will have noticed that the man in the picture above is not actually smoking a cigarette, but that does not matter as we can use this final application of the phrasal verb 'light up' to describe smoking anything - see the table below...
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Firstly, as an ex-smoker (I quit over 10 years ago), I hate smoking and would never encourage it. Nevertheless, you are not here to find out my personal views, but rather to learn about 'light up', and I can tell you that it is commonly used in reference to smoking to describe when someone takes a lighter or another source of flame and uses it to ignite a cigarette so that they can smoke it.
For this usage, you can say someone 'lights up a cigarette' or you can just say that someone 'lights up' if it is clear what you mean from the context.
You should note that we do not typically use this with vaping as there is no naked flame involved in the process. Therefore, it would sound a bit strange to say that someone has gone outside to light up when referring to vaping (unless they are jokingly borrowing the expression from cigarettes). I do believe that some vapes light up in the illuminating sense, though.
Example sentences....
Dean stepped outside and immediately lit up a cigarette.
Kate lit up a cigarette while she was waiting for the bus.
Ron sat down, lit up a cigar and poured himself a whisky.
As soon as they left the restaurant, they both lit up.
Kath has gone outside to light up.
Ken lit up as soon as the meeting was over.
You're not allowed to light up inside the building.
Several people went outside during the break to light up.
Ben lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.
BONUS: Common expressions with the phrasal verb 'light up'
To end the post, let's now consider some common expressions featuring the phrasal verb 'light up'....
To light up a room - If a person has a lot of charisma, energy or appeal to other people, you could potentially describe them by saying that "they light up a room". It is used for the kind of person whose presence instantly changes the energy in a room of people or social space and makes it a happier and more positive place to be.
Example sentences....
Sophie has such a warm, cheerful personality that she lights up the room wherever she goes.
Paul's face lit up when he saw his friends, and within minutes his laughter had lit up the whole room.
The headteacher has a natural warmth and enthusiasm that lights up any room she walks into.
To light up like a Christmas tree - This usage links back to first meaning in the post as when a person lights up like a Christmas tree, they suddenly look very happy or excited. This is often as a result of seeing something or hearing some welcome information.
Example sentences....
Karen lit up like a Christmas tree when her grandchildren walked through the door.
Tom lit up like a Christmas tree when Kirsty told him she’d missed him.
My brother's face lit up like a Christmas tree when he heard that he’d got the job.
To light someone's ass up - This is perhaps the strangest and most painful sounding of the three expressions and to severely scold, reprimand or tell someone off for having done something wrong. This is main a North American usage and not one that I hear much used in British English.
Example sentences....
If my boss finds out who made that mistake, he’s going to light their ass up.
The coach lit the players’ asses up after their terrible performance.
Emma lit his ass up on social media after he accused her of lying.
We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'light up' more confidently and naturally.
Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'light up' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media.
Do you want to improve your phrasal verb skills?Now that you have read the article, I hope you've learned something new. However, reading is only the first step to mastering phrasal verbs: the key is practice and repetition. That's why I've created a series of PDF workbooks with clear explanations, natural example sentences, exercises, speaking questions and answer keys. This will help you understand and remember common English phrasal verbs and use them confidently in real-life situations. Browse the workbooks here and start improving your phrasal verbs skills today.... |
Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊
THE END
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