nightfall
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of nightfall
Explanation
Nightfall is the part of a day when the sun goes down and evening begins. In suburban neighborhoods, parents often call their kids to come home for dinner at nightfall. It gets dark at nightfall, marking the end of the day. You can also all this time dusk or twilight. If your dad warns you to be home from your bike ride by nightfall, he wants you home before sunset. Nightfall has a bit of an old fashioned, poetic sound, and it dates from the early eighteenth century, a combination of night, from the Old English niht, or "darkness," and fall, or "come suddenly."
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.
These eight steps can help keep bedrooms cooler before nightfall.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
And the case ever since has been nearly as obscured as the Catalina Foothills after nightfall - beset by everything from tricky terrain to law enforcement infighting.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
In it, a husband and wife adopt a cat, Sheila, who develops an unnerving disposition come nightfall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
By nightfall, the country would begin to learn the outcome.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
They remained there silently until nightfall, without a sign of Fflewddur or Doli.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
