diff --git a/home-manager/neovim/default.nix b/home-manager/neovim/default.nix
index e82efaf..9fa62e2 100644
--- a/home-manager/neovim/default.nix
+++ b/home-manager/neovim/default.nix
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@
 
             vim.g.gitblame_date_format = "%r"
 
+            -- setup illuminate highlight groups
+            vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "IlluminatedWordText", { bold = true })
+            vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "IlluminatedWordRead", { link = "IlluminatedWordText" })
+            vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "IlluminatedWordWrite", { link = "IlluminatedWordText" })
         EOF
       '';
     };