dawn
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
-
daybreak; sunrise
-
the sky when light first appears in the morning
-
the beginning of something
verb
-
to begin to grow light after the night
-
to begin to develop, appear, or expand
-
to begin to become apparent (to)
Other Word Forms
- dawnlike adjective
- undawned adjective
Etymology
Origin of dawn
First recorded before 1150; Middle English dawen (verb), Old English dagian, derivative of dæg day; akin to Old Norse daga, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German dagen, Old High German tagēn
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Guards noticed the two men had fled on Thursday before dawn.
From Barron's
The new evidence shows cat domestication didn't start at the dawn of agriculture - in the Levant.
From BBC
The disaster struck at dawn on Wednesday -- late evening in mainland France -- in the eastern village of Afaahiti after a week of heavy rain.
From Barron's
Gen Z, which grew up in the dawn of YouTube and, later, the emergence of TikTok, has generally favored short-form content over lengthier productions; however, “Stranger Things” became the exception.
From Los Angeles Times
In the days before online shopping became ubiquitous, stores welcomed the mayhem by opening early for those who willingly woke up before dawn to push through crowds and snag the best door-buster deals.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
