highlight

[ hahy-lahyt ]
See synonyms for highlight on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),high·light·ed, high·light·ing.
  1. to emphasize or make prominent: The lawsuit against the landlord highlighted the need for a stricter building code.

  2. to mark with a felt-tip highlighter: I started highlighting the text (yellow for important ideas, blue for dates and facts), but I'm not sure it was productive in the long run.

  1. to create highlights in (a photograph or engraving).

  2. to dye (parts of the hair) lighter.

  3. to apply makeup to (the face) in places where light would naturally hit, to create a glowing effect: After blending the foundation, highlight the cheekbones.

noun
  1. Sometimes high light . an important, conspicuous, memorable, or enjoyable event, scene, part, or the like: the highlight of his talk;the highlight of the concert series.

  2. the area of most intense light on a represented form, as in a painting or photograph.

  1. Usually high·lights . a section of hair that has been dyed lighter.

Origin of highlight

1
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; high + light1

Other words for highlight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use highlight in a sentence

  • He stared into the thick darkness and saw an oval face, crowned by waving brown hair, that glinted gold in the highlights.

    The Imaginary Marriage | Henry St. John Cooper
  • A recent event highlights exactly how close we are to crossing the line into the world of Little Brother.

    Little Brother | Cory Doctorow
  • All three wrought in chryselephantine gold and ivory; the gold with flowing pallid highlights.

    Zero Data | Charles Saphro
  • Mayne suspected the greenish highlights were reflections of the forest color.

    A Transmutation of Muddles | Horace Brown Fyfe
  • This epilogue highlights ongoing development of the theory by its authors and by other nurses.

    Nursing as Caring | Anne Boykin

British Dictionary definitions for highlight

highlight

/ (ˈhaɪˌlaɪt) /


noun
  1. an area of the lightest tone in a painting, drawing, photograph, etc

  2. the most exciting or memorable part of an event or period of time

  1. (often plural) a bleached blond streak in the hair

verb(tr)
  1. painting drawing photog to mark (any brightly illuminated or prominent part of a form or figure) with light tone

  2. to bring notice or emphasis to

  1. to be the highlight of

  2. to produce blond streaks in (the hair) by bleaching

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012