Lightening vs. Lightning How to Choose the Right Word

The words lightening and lightning look and sound similar, but their meanings are very different. The former is a verb, while the latter can be either a noun or an adjective. How to Use Lightening The word lightening is the present participle form of the verb lighten, which means to make lighter or brighter. Lighten can also mean to make happier or less serious (as in lighten the mood). As a present participle, lightening is often used in the continuous tense to indicate simultaneous actions: The painter mixed some white into the blue, lightening the color. In this sentence, the blue is lightened as the painter adds the color white; both actions—the mixing and the lightening—occur at the same time. How to Use Lightning The noun lightning refers to the flash of light that precedes thunder, the result of electrical activity in the atmosphere. As an adjective, lightning describes things that happen—like a flash of lightning—very suddenly or quickly. For example, a runner who outpaces her competitors might be described as moving at a lightning pace. Examples Lightening always refers to a change in condition that results in something becoming brighter, less heavy, or less serious than it was before: The sky was lightening as the sun rose over the hill.Her son helped carry some of the groceries home, lightening her heavy load.Putting on a funny movie is one way of lightening the mood. As a noun, lightning refers to the atmospheric phenomenon that produces a bolt of light in the sky: He saw lightning in the dark clouds; a few seconds later he heard thunder. Lightning can also be used as an adjective to describe lightning-related nouns: A narrow lightning rod was positioned at the top of the church steeple.The meteorologist reported that a lightning storm was headed their way. As an adjective, lightning can also modify nouns that relate to pacing: When he got the call for help, he rushed away at lightning speed.The conductor raced through the final movement, waving his arms and giving the music a lightning tempo. How to Remember the Difference The only difference between lightning and lightening is a single syllable, but that wasnt always the case. For several centuries, writes scholar Roy Blount, Jr., the job of representing aerial bolts of electricity was up in the air, flickering back and forth between lightning and lightening. The spellings eventually settled, and the two-syllable lightning became the word for the electrical phenomenon. To keep the terms straight, remember that lightning appears in the sky for a short moment, and lightning has fewer syllables than lightening. You can remember the definition of lightening by thinking of the rhyming words brightening and whitening. All three of these words refer to a change in state or condition: to make something lighter, brighter, or whiter. If the context calls for a verb, you should use lightening. Sources Blount, Roy Jr.  Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, p. 172.