dawn
noun
the first appearance of daylight in the morning.
dawn
1 American
[dawn]
/ dɔn /
noun
dawns
plural
verb (used without object)
dawns,
present (3rd person singular)
dawned,
past participle, past
dawning
present participle
Dawn
2
American
[dawn]
/ dɔn /
noun
dawn
British
/ dɔːn /
noun
-
daybreak; sunrise
-
the sky when light first appears in the morning
-
the beginning of something
verb
-
to begin to grow light after the night
-
to begin to develop, appear, or expand
-
to begin to become apparent (to)
dawn
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dawnsimple
-
dawnssimple
-
have dawnedperfect
-
has dawnedperfect
-
am dawningprogressive
-
are dawningprogressive
-
is dawningprogressive
-
have been dawningperfect progressive
-
has been dawningperfect progressive
Past
-
dawnedsimple
-
had dawnedperfect
-
was dawningprogressive
-
were dawningprogressive
-
had been dawningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dawn
First recorded before 1150; Middle English dawen (verb), Old English dagian, derivative of dæg day; akin to Old Norse daga, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German dagen, Old High German tagēn
Explanation
The noun dawn refers to the first light of day, or the first time period, like the dawn of a new era, which occurs when a new president takes office. Not just the beginning of a day, the noun dawn can refer to any beginning, like the dawn of the Internet era. As a verb, dawn can mean "become light" or "become clear," like when it dawns on you that you left an important paper at home today. In that case, you can suddenly see what you did wrong, like at the dawn of a new day, when it is no longer dark and you can see, literally.
Vocabulary lists containing dawn
First-Name Basis: Words That Are Also Names
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
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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.
You can reduce your risk by not swimming at dawn or dusk when sharks are most active, staying close to shore and swimming in groups, said Dodd.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 20, 2026
By dawn, the name was gone, but the tarp remained.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026
His arrival at Adobe came at the dawn of software-as-a service, which at the time was a revolutionary shift toward monetizing software via subscription business models.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
For example, teenage births in the United States have been falling since the early 1990s, long before the dawn of the smartphone.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
A National Guard helicopter rose at dawn and headed south, toward the Tuscan River.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
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.
