autumn

American  

[aw-tuhm] / ˈɔ təm /

noun

• autumns
  plural

1. the season between summer and winter; fall. In the Northern Hemisphere it is from the September equinox to the December solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere it is from the March equinox to the June solstice.

2. a time of full maturity, especially the late stages of full maturity or, sometimes, the early stages of decline.

   to be in the autumn of one's life.

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autumn British  

/ ˈɔːtəm /

noun

1. (sometimes capital)

   1. Also called (esp US): fall.  the season of the year between summer and winter, astronomically from the September equinox to the December solstice in the N hemisphere and from the March equinox to the June solstice in the S hemisphere

   2. ( as modifier )

      autumn leaves

2. a period of late maturity, esp one followed by a decline

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• autumns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of autumn

1325–75; < Latin autumnus; replacing Middle English autumpne < Middle French autompne < Latin

Explanation

Autumn is the season after summer, when leaves fall from trees. It's also the season when the days get shorter and colder, and everything turns brown and drab, but people like it anyway, for the cocoa and cider, probably. Autumn is the third season of the year, coming after summer and before winter, and coinciding with the dropping of leaves from the trees as they go into a winter rest, which is why it's also called fall. We also use autumn metaphorically to talk about the seasons of a person's life, like that luminous older actress in the autumn of her career: she's not yet playing roles in nursing homes, but neither is she scampering around in bikinis.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

autumn autumns

As autumn marks the transition from the warmth of summer to the colder conditions of winter, this can be a trickier season to make broader predictions for.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials, that Trump is pushing aides to set up a meeting with Kim as soon as this autumn.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Long range forecasts are now looking ahead to meteorological autumn - the months of September, October and November.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

But even die-hard college football fans didn’t know Chambliss’s name when he slotted in second on the depth chart last autumn in Mississippi.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

On that autumn night I’d left him, I had made an oath to myself that I would live with integrity.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Tehran, located on the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains, experiences hot, dry summers, sometimes rainy autumns and winters that can be harsh and snowy.

From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025

The findings point to warmer autumns as a key driver of the shift.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025

One wonders how long the USC deep-pocketed people will endure such failed expectations, such fruitless autumns, such ... mediocrity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025

The story leaps two autumns ahead, when Odd happens along and helps Sook and Buddy as they struggle to haul a tub of chrysanthemums to their porch.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

No raindrop falls in the storms of autumn that ever fell before, and the rain has fallen, and falls, and will fall throughout all the autumns of the years.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin