Ask WordMum: Lightening vs Lightning
Not sure which of these words, lightening and lightning, is wielded by the might Zeus or another well known god of thunder? Read on as WordMum sheds some light on the situation.
Our Question
When should I use lightening or lightning in a sentence? What about lighting?
Terrible Advice
They all mean the same thing and no confusion can result from this. Go nuts!
WordMum Says
It’s easy to confuse these words, particularly lightening and lightning because they sound so similar and are only one letter different. I have included all three here for completeness and in case lighting causes any additional confusion. Let’s start with what each word means.
Lightening (noun, verb, adverb)
This indicates that the light, colour, or weight is changing. It is a direct comparison to a previous condition and indicates that something is in the process of changing. Specifically, the light is increasing or becoming brighter, a colour is becoming lighter or paler than it was, or a weight is becoming less or lighter than before. It can be used in any context where something can be light vs something else (dark and heavy are the most common opposites used with light).
So, the sky might be lightening when the dawn comes, someone’s hair is lightening when it is being bleached, and a burden is lightening when the bucket has a hole in it. This can be a verb or adverb: the sky or load was lightening (verb); the lightening solution (adverb, meaning a chemical solution that lightens something).
It’s also used as a noun to indicate a stage towards the end of a pregnancy when the weight felt by the pregnant person begins to lighten. This is the only context where lightening appears as a noun.
Lightning (noun, adjective)
This is what happens during a storm when an electrical charge arcs between clouds or between a cloud and something on the ground. This is usually a noun, but can be used as an adjective or modifier: the lightning struck the tree (noun); he had lightning-fast reflexes (adjective). When used as an adjective, it attributes great speed and sometimes the blinding light we associate with the physical phenomenon.
Lighting (verb, noun, adjective)
This indicates something is providing the light in the space in question. It can be natural or artificial illumination, though it’s more typically used with forms of artificial light. Outdoors, lighting is provided by sources like the sun, moon, stars, or streetlamps. Indoors, it can be fires, candles, bulbs, lamps, sun through a window, and so on. These things produce or provide light, and lighting is the service they provide. The light in question might be bright, low, sporadic, or shifting; lighting covers all of these. This word can be used to refer to: the lighting in the room (noun); the lamp lighting the room (verb); the lighting fixtures in the room (adjective).
So what is a good and easy way to remember which is which? After all, that’s why we’re all really here.
Personally, I refer to how each word is pronounced. Lighting does not have the first ‘n’ sound at all, only the ‘ing’. Lightening has the ‘en’ syllable that makes it sound subtly different to lightning: ligh-ten-ing vs light-ning. This helps me know whether I can link the word back to lighten, if I can’t, then I probably mean the one without the ‘en’. This works for me because this is how the words sound in my head.
However, not everyone pronounces words the same and not everyone finds this kind of approach useful, so let’s look at some other options.
Another useful way to know which one to use is to think about different permutations of the word. Lightning doesn’t have any other forms; as a noun or adjective, there aren’t any other tenses to worry about. On the other hand, lightening does: lighten, lighter, lightened. These are consistent and all have the same base form: light with ‘en’ or ‘er’ on it.
So, if you can restructure your sentence to use a different form of the word lightening and it works, that tells you it needs the ‘en’ spelling.
Example Time!
The lightening in the sky
This includes the ‘en’ part, so it’s referring to the sky growing lighter. It’s a little awkward in its phrasing as we would usually say the lightening of the sky, but this is still a correct way of saying the sky is becoming paler or brighter.
The lightning in the sky
This has the shorter word (‘n’ instead of ‘en’), so it’s referring to the kind of lightning that comes from a storm. This is more
He had lightning-fast reflexes
This means the person moves very quickly, using the metaphor of a flash of lightning. Reflexes don’t get lighter; it is more typical to refer to them getting faster or slower, rather than lighter, darker, or heavier. That helps us know we don’t want the version of the word with the ‘e’ here.
The weight of guilt was lightening
In this case, the intended meaning is likely that a burden is becoming lighter (metaphorically). That is, the guilty feeling was lessening. This pushes us towards the ‘en’ version of the word.
It would be a little strange to say the guilt was lightning. If you wanted to use it as a metaphor using a lightning strike, rephrasing it to something like the weight of guilt struck them like lightning would be clearer and less likely to look like an error.
Does that help? Do you have any other tricks you find help you remember whether you need that pesky ‘e’ or not? Let us know!
Any other questions, send them on over to your friendly WordMum.
Watch this space as more helpful advice!