afternoon
Americanadjective
noun
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the period of the day between noon and evening
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( as modifier )
afternoon tea
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a middle or later part
the afternoon of life
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of afternoon
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at after, noon
Explanation
The afternoon is the time of day that starts mid-day and ends in the evening. If you have an afternoon appointment, it's probably some time between 12:00 and 5:00 p.m. It's pretty much agreed that the afternoon begins after noon, or 12:00 p.m., but when the afternoon ends and evening begins is a bit more vague. Still, if you ask a friend to meet you for coffee in the afternoon, she will know what you mean. You can even use the word afternoon as a casual greeting, short for "Good afternoon!" In Middle English, the word was aftermete, meaning "after the noon meal."
Vocabulary lists containing afternoon
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.
See Examples For:
Reyes didn’t see the incident that neighbors said unfolded the afternoon of Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
It will take place Tuesday afternoon, the Vatican said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
On each occasion, the first two sessions have been played in hot, sunny conditions, only for clouds to build in the afternoon - a familiar weather pattern in Durban.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The judge temporarily halted further tree removal until at least Tuesday afternoon, warning that violating her order could trigger contempt proceedings.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
I was two or three lessons in when Russell showed up one afternoon.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
On hot afternoons, when demand for power peaks, solar is now regularly supplying around a third of the electricity used across Texas, says Mark Stover, executive director of the Texas Solar and Storage Association.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
About 100 years after the meal spanning weekend mornings and afternoons first gained popularity in America, brunch—a portmanteau originally coined in England in the late 19th century—has by no means disappeared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
In the basement of St. Boniface Church in Anaheim on weekday afternoons and weekend mornings in the mid-1990s, my sister, about 20 other teenagers and I learned about the tenets of our faith.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
European authorities issued health warnings, battled wildfires and urged people to avoid outdoor activities during afternoons.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
In the afternoons, Richard could nearly always be found in the dark basement, wedged in the crawl space between the couch and the wall, an encyclopedia propped open in front of him.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
