eve
noun
the evening or the day before a holiday, church festival, or any date or event.
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:
Foley, 42, died in his sleep on the eve of a match against Racing 92 after a heart condition caused fluid to build up in his lungs.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
On the eve of Liverpool's meeting with LASK, manager Andoni Iraola was repeatedly asked about the fortunes of Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Alireza Sepahi was arrested in the wake of Iran's January protests, was spared public execution in July after suffering a heart attack and married his fiancee on the eve of his death.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
On the eve of the war, that cost was about $231,400 a day, according to maritime data provider Clarksons Research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Due to the perilous nature of our trip, we weren't allowed to inform family members we were leaving until the eve of our flight.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
There had been hope Ratcliffe, a boyhood United fan, would change that when he struck a deal with the Glazers to become a minority shareholder on Christmas Eve 2023.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
More recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paxton spent New Year's Eve in Dubai with two American businessmen indicted over alleged healthcare fraud.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026
Like Homer’s King Agamemnon, who was doomed to die by the actions of his wife, Clytemnestra, Adam discovers that Eve has, in his absence, yielded to the lies of a seducer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
On Christmas Eve, excited scientists and celebrities gathered at The Open University's London headquarters.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
This is why, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, my bed is littered with all sorts of craft project supplies: felt, glitter, glue, scissors, hole punch, sequins, and stars.
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
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
It was around that time that he began to get better, and after many, days his fever subsided and his eves cleared; his. mind and personality came back, and he recovered slowly but completely.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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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.
