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Synonyms

dawn on

Idioms  

  1. Also, dawn upon. Become evident or understood, as in It finally dawned on him that he was expected to call them, or Around noon it dawned upon me that I had never eaten breakfast. This expression transfers the beginning of daylight to the beginning of a thought process. Harriet Beecher Stowe had it in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852): “The idea that they had either feelings or rights had never dawned upon her.” [Mid-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.

The frigate had issued a distress call at dawn on Wednesday but had completely sunk by the time a Sri Lankan rescue ship reached the area.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

Between midnight and dawn on Tuesday, the Earth will pass directly between the sun and the moon.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026

It will peak between 3 and 4 January with the best viewing conditions before dawn on 4 January.

From BBC • Jan. 3, 2026

“Supplies for air defense must be sufficient and timely, especially now, when we need them most. There must be no delays in protecting lives,” he wrote before dawn on Saturday.

From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025

Before dawn on a morning sometime in early June 1796, the ship sailed for Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a vibrant New England port city a few days’ voyage away.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

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.