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Synonyms

crack of dawn

American  

noun

  1. the part of morning when light first appears in the sky.


crack of dawn Idioms  
  1. Very early morning, daybreak. For example, I got up at the crack of dawn. The crack in this term alludes either to the suddenness of sunrise or to the small wedge of light appearing as the sun rises over the horizon. Originally the term was usually put as crack of day. [Late 1800s]


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:

Jordan says when she was 4 she got up at the crack of dawn every day and put in a VHS tape of a ballet class that her mother, Mary Lim, had bought.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 30, 2026

Around the crack of dawn, a line begins forming at a strip mall in Hyattsville, Maryland, as residents ranging from students to delivery workers and federal contractors wait to sign up for food assistance.

From Barron's Feb. 5, 2026

Some shoppers say they got up at the crack of dawn to wait outside their local branches of the coffee chain, only to find they were too late.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 7, 2025

Some are empty, set up at the crack of dawn and then abandoned for hours on end, until the owners actually want to use them.

From BBC Jan. 8, 2025

On the morning of the picnic she had to start in at the very crack of dawn, to get all those hens killed and fried up.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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