A lighter is a small handheld device that creates a flame, used to light candles, start campfires, or ignite gas stoves. When you press a button or flick a wheel on a lighter, it produces a spark that ignites fuel inside, creating a controlled flame. Before lighters were invented in the early 1800s, people had to use matches, flint and steel, or keep embers burning constantly.

The word also means less heavy. A backpack stuffed with textbooks feels heavy, but when you remove half the books, it becomes lighter. A feather is lighter than a rock. In this sense, lighter is the comparative form of the adjective “light,” used when comparing two things.

Lighter can also describe colors that are paler or brighter. Light blue is lighter than navy blue. If you mix white paint into red paint, the red becomes lighter, turning pink. When the sun rises and morning arrives, the sky grows lighter as darkness fades.

When something becomes lighter in weight, it can feel easier to handle, just as a room that becomes lighter in color can feel more cheerful and open.