enlightenment - education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge
Age of Reason, Enlightenment - a movement in Europe from about 1650 until 1800 that advocated the use of reason and individualism instead of tradition and established doctrine
Example:- the Enlightenment brought about many humanitarian reforms
enlightenment, nirvana - (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness