eve
noun
the evening or the day before a holiday, church festival, or any date or event.
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eve
1 American
[eev]
/ iv /
noun
-
eves
plural
-
(sometimes initial capital letter) the evening or the day before a holiday, church festival, or any date or event.
Christmas Eve; the eve of an execution.
-
the period preceding or leading up to any event, crisis, etc..
on the eve of the American Revolution.
-
the evening.
Eve
2
American
[eev]
/ iv /
noun
-
(in the Bible) the name of the first woman: wife of Adam and progenitor of the human race.
-
a female given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “life.”
eve
1
British
/ iːv /
noun
-
-
the evening or day before some special event or festival
-
( capital when part of a name )
New Year's Eve
-
-
the period immediately before an event
on the eve of civil war
-
an archaic word for evening
Eve
2
British
/ iːv /
noun
Eve
Cultural
eve
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eve
1200–50; Middle English; variant of even 2
Explanation
An eve is the day — or night — just before some event. You might call the day before your birthday your "birthday eve." Some holidays are well-known for having the proceeding days distinguished as eves: many of us celebrate New Year's Eve, others gather for meals on Christmas Eve or Passover Eve, and the word "Halloween" comes from "All Hallow's Eve." The word eve is sometimes also a shortened form of evening, the last part of the day: "It stays light so late on a summer's eve."
Vocabulary lists containing eve
Scrabble: Palindrome Words
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3-letter words, 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:
The world's top athletes arrived on the eve of the championship for a red carpet event featuring photoshoots.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Oscar-winning actresses Viola Davis and Ariana DeBose joined "Wicked" star Cynthia Erivo in the front row at the show, which took place on the eve of fashion week's official launch.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Open, explicitly rejected the metric in a media conference on the eve of the tournament.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
He has quit jobs in the middle of runs to the postseason and on the eve of national championship games.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
“Good eve, Brother Crookshanks!” he cried, laughing as if it had been a great joke to be lame.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
What kind of teenager isn’t playing video games, cracking open bottles of Sparkling Apple Cider or sleeping at midnight on New Year’s Eve?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
This season, the NFL is adding a Thanksgiving Eve game on Netflix on top of the “Black Friday” game Amazon carries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Starring Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Maisie Richardson-Sellers, it follows the story of a young woman who can bring spirits into the mortal world but is herself haunted.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
She says for the ancient Celts it was "vitally important" to be prepared for the darker days of winter and to get the harvest in before All Hallows Eve, what we would call Halloween.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
“I think she should. It’s Christmas Eve dinner,” Oliver reminded her, perhaps unwisely.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
Up All Night‘s” epilogue considers the post-pandemic remnants of the glamorous, somewhat gluttonous eves of yore and the effects that smartphones, social media and streaming have had on the art of going out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Photos shared by the park showed impassable areas and snow up to the eves of one of the entrances at Grand Canyon Lodge.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2023
“Umbrellas were useless,” reported The Times, “the overflow from eves, awning and other projections were miniature Niagaras.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2017
Games occur in practice gyms, or intramural gyms, or gym-gyms, or in the real thing on game eves.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2017
She grabbed an end of the oilcloth and wiped her eves.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
