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.
See Examples For:
Lilly Cassirer Neubauer escaped Germany at the dawn of World War II by relinquishing to a Nazi art broker the exquisite impressionist masterpiece “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain,” by Camille Pissarro.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
We are at the dawn of recursive self-improvement, the moment when AI systems begin rewriting and improving their own code, causing an intelligence explosion, all without human intervention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
In the second half of 2022 — during the dawn of ChatGPT — it blocked almost 45 million accounts.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
Iraola will not want this to be a false dawn for such an exceptional talent that had lost his way.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Then I crawled into the sleeping bag, slept until dawn, and went to see about my injured dog.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
“The Crack of Dawn,” a beautiful, cool and cortisol-elevating heist short film presenting Emily Dawn Long’s SS27 collection, was a breath of fresh this week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Golden Dawn made a sensational entry into parliament in 2012, in a climate of social distress linked to the financial crisis in Greece, loss of trust in institutions and discrediting of the main political parties.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
“We were starting to believe that this was going to be a kickoff for investment to start to increase,” said Dawn Desjardins, chief economist at Deloitte Canada.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Last month, Dawn Buckingham, who leads the General Land Office, sent a cease and desist letter to CBP and a federal contractor she said had illegally cleared GLO-owned land in Presidio County.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
"If Dawn has her calf while I am away, they will help her. They promised me."
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
In some sense, this is akin to the realization that dawns on most people regarding their parents: Before we came along, they had a whole identity that had nothing to do with us.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2026
The romantic idea of an insight that suddenly dawns is misleading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Investors burned by false dawns in China’s property market are reluctant to reprice assets without unmistakable signals.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
"There have been so many false dawns for us so there is surprise and delight at today's news."
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
It dawns on me: Mom’s never been glam because she makes no time for extras.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
When the 20th century dawned, nearly all of Asia was under the colonial boot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
And if Snead was going to win himself a championship, it dawned on him that everything that had carried the Rams to this point would have to change.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
And it just dawned on me as I'm sitting there looking out at this.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
And when Folarin arrived a few weeks later, entering the world just hours before Independence Day dawned, he did so as an American citizen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
And something dawned on her: Kiyoshi had no such choices.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
"I can't read instruction manuals, but I've watched YouTube tutorials," he says, generating a growling bass line that sounds like the dawning of the apocalypse.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Graham Burnett, a history professor at Princeton University, sees "the dawning of an authentic movement," similar to the birth of the environmental movement in the 1960s, which led to landmark environmental protections.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
The dawning realization that the problems these men face aren’t failures at being men.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
It’s dawning on both the equity and bond markets that this conflict isn’t looking like a fleeting affair, said Amar Reganti, fixed-income strategist at Hartford Funds.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 5, 2026
“But,” said the Prime Minister, with a sense of dawning horror, “didn’t you tell me they’re the creatures that drain hope and happiness out of people?”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
