autumn
Americannoun
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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.
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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.
noun
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(sometimes capital)
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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
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( as modifier )
autumn leaves
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a period of late maturity, esp one followed by a decline
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.
Vocabulary lists containing autumn
Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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The Silent Treatment: Words Plagued by Silent Letters
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
The Harry Potter TV series has been renewed for a second season, with filming set to begin in autumn of this year, HBO has confirmed.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
Spring brings risi e bisi, the classic Venetian rice-and-peas dish; autumn meant bigoli con l’anatra, a spaghetti-like pasta with duck ragù.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
The Durham right-armer is centrally contracted by England until the autumn.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
In the summer and autumn of 2025, a first voyage by the Global Sumud Flotilla across the Mediterranean towards Gaza drew worldwide attention.
From Barron's • May 1, 2026
The autumn before last, I’d seen two adult screechers eating spotted oak moths.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
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.
