overnight
Americanadverb
-
for or during the night.
to stay overnight.
-
on or during the previous evening.
Preparations were made overnight.
-
very quickly; suddenly.
New suburbs sprang up overnight.
adjective
-
done, made, occurring, or continuing during the night.
an overnight stop; an overnight decision.
-
staying for one night.
a group of overnight guests.
-
designed to be used on a trip or for a journey lasting one night or only a few nights.
-
intended for delivery on the next day.
overnight letters; an overnight package.
-
valid for one night.
The corporal got an overnight pass.
-
occurring suddenly or within a very short time.
a comedian who became an overnight sensation.
noun
-
Informal. an overnight stay or trip.
Our daughter had an overnight at a friend's house.
-
Informal. a permit for overnight absence, as from a college dormitory.
She had an overnight the night of the prom.
-
the previous evening.
verb (used without object)
-
overnights,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overnighted,
past participle, past
-
overnighting
present participle
adverb
-
for the duration of the night
we stopped overnight
-
in or as if in the course of one night; suddenly
the situation changed overnight
adjective
-
done in, occurring in, or lasting the night
an overnight stop
-
staying for one night
overnight guests
-
lasting one night
an overnight trip
an overnight bank loan
-
for use during a single night
overnight clothes
-
occurring in or as if in the course of one night; sudden
an overnight victory
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overnightsimple
-
overnightssimple
-
have overnightedperfect
-
has overnightedperfect
-
am overnightingprogressive
-
are overnightingprogressive
-
is overnightingprogressive
-
have been overnightingperfect progressive
-
has been overnightingperfect progressive
Past
-
overnightedsimple
-
had overnightedperfect
-
was overnightingprogressive
-
were overnightingprogressive
-
had been overnightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overnight
Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; see origin at over-, night
Explanation
When something happens overnight, it occurs during the hours of one night. An overnight party can also be called a sleepover or a slumber party. (Pack your sleeping bag, but you probably won't use it.) You can use overnight as an adverb or adjective literally meaning "during the night" — like an overnight airplane flight or a guest who stays overnight on your couch. You can also use it figuratively, to mean "quickly" or "instant." After you publish your first book, you may be an overnight success; and after an important election, the world may seem to change overnight.
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:
"But these things do take quite a lot of planning, and so you don't just do it overnight."
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
But these projects don’t happen overnight, Gallien said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone known as the "Grand Condé" was pilfered in an overnight raid on the Château de Chantilly in October 1926 and concealed in a hollowed-out apple.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
"There are no more fish. They can't swim upstream," said fisherman Putta Muansaen, 67, who travelled overnight from northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Betsie and I had already made up beds for four new overnight guests that evening: a Jewish woman and her three small children.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Nobody imagined using Wi-Fi to livestream Thursday Night Football from a multinational tech conglomerate that also overnights toilet paper and garden gnomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Stays at Swiss five-star hotels make up around 8% of all overnights, but the guests in them contribute at least 25% of Switzerland's total revenue from tourism.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025
Yelmi Martinez, a single mother of three in Fresno who works overnights stocking shelves at a Walmart, said she’ll likely need to visit a food bank over the holidays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
“I travel and camp in the backcountry year round and this includes overnights when the temperature dips to -20ºF,” she wrote via email.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
Grandma and Mother continued to work very hard to keep secrets about whether Papa really had left home forever or whether or not he was on one of his frequent overnights.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
He said he paid extra to have it overnighted to his home.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
Of the affected voters, a lawyer for the county told the court that 585 had already been overnighted a ballot or had canceled their absentee ballot and voted early.
From Reuters ● Nov. 7, 2022
My sister overnighted me an oximeter so I could monitor my oxygen and heartbeat, and my oxygen level dipped to 90 but no lower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
Had we chosen an urban Quebec vacation we probably would have overnighted at Auberge de St. Antoine which offers a 40 percent winter discount.
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2018
Afraid she wouldn’t be allowed on the plane, Fox phoned her father, who overnighted her passport.
From Washington Post
The men in separate canoes were returning to shore after overnighting on the lake’s Deer Island.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
Since then, he’s been a fixture in Madrona, overnighting on metal bus benches that were impossibly small for his big frame, then lugging his bags up and down the hills.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
“We are the first restaurant that has a team in Italy making fresh pasta and overnighting it,” Uovo cofounder Jerry Greenberg said in an email.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2018
After that, he traveled around the country in a truck, overnighting in campgrounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2014
Sometimes he travelled closer to the city, overnighting in places like the Merri Creek reserve.
From Underground by Suelette Dreyfus
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
