When researching lighting as a whole, I found many examples and descriptions of the term itself. I chose to post other scholar term definitions here to reflect back on.

Yale University: The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived. Light affects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition. Much like movement in the cinema, the history of lighting technology is intrisically linked to the history of film style. Most mainstream films rely on the three-point lighting style, and its genre variations. Other films, for example documentaries and realist cinema, rely on natural light to create a sense of authenticity.

Studentnet: Lighting plays an important part in creating the atmosphere in a film. The amount of light and the direction of the light source can give meaning to the viewer of the film. For example, lighting is used to indicate the time of the day.

EICAR International Film and Television School Paris: The use of various light sources, both artificial and natural, to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect while illuminating a scene.

Dictionary.com: the act of igniting or illuminating; the arrangement of lights to achieve particular effects: