1. people claiming to possess special enlightenment or knowledge of something: "some mysterious standard known only to the illuminati of the organization"
▪ a sect of 16th-century Spanish heretics who claimed special religious enlightenment.
▪ a Bavarian secret society founded in 1776, organized like the Freemasons.
Word Originlate 16th century: plural of Italian illuminato or Latin illuminatus ‘enlightened’, past participle of illuminare (see illuminate).
