daytime
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of daytime
Explanation
When the sun is lighting up the sky outside, it's daytime. Most adults are at work during the daytime and come home at nighttime. While daytime is defined as "after sunrise and before sunset," it describes this time of day even on dark, gray, days, or in parts of the world that get limited sunlight during the winter. A more accurate way to think of daytime is the hours after you wake up in the morning and before you start to think about going to bed at night. When it's daytime where you are, it's nighttime on the opposite hemisphere of the Earth.
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.
This may mean longer dry interludes and the chance of returning to above-average daytime temperatures, but the degree of temperature rise will depend on the positioning the high pressure relative to the UK.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Since the medium’s earliest days, Madison Avenue assumed that in households well-off enough to afford television sets, daytime audiences were mostly women who influenced household spending.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Genetic variants associated with conscientiousness were also related to being more active during the daytime.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
For me, it was on an independent UHF television station that carried “The Porter Wagoner Show” in daytime syndication.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The barn door screeched as he opened it, a thing it never did in the daytime.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
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.
