midnight
Americannoun
adjective
-
of or relating to midnight.
-
resembling midnight, as in darkness.
idioms
noun
-
-
the middle of the night; 12 o'clock at night
-
( as modifier )
the midnight hour
-
-
to work or study late into the night
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of midnight
before 900; Middle English; Old English midniht. See mid-, night
Explanation
Midnight is the moment at which one day ends and the next begins — it's twelve o' clock at night. Follow the Fairy Godmother's advice to Cinderella, and always get home before midnight. At midnight, the date changes, and the time changes from PM to AM. It's no surprise that midnight is the very middle of the night, the word itself stemming from the Old English mid-niht, from mid, "among" or "in the middle of," and night, from niht, which appropriately means both "night" and "darkness."
Vocabulary lists containing midnight
Blue
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mid-
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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.
At midnight on Saturday, all lanes on State Route 47 on the Vincent Thomas Bridge between Ferry Street and Harbor Boulevard will close.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Fans across the globe flocked to midnight release parties for “A Court of Splintered Harmony,” with over 900 fans alone in New York City flocking to Barnes and Noble on Oct.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
Sales representatives learned to pack nutrition bars to sustain them through negotiating sessions that Apple executives sometimes pushed past midnight without a dinner break.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
The house that was to become ours was listed on a Friday; we saw it on a Saturday; offers were due Sunday at midnight.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
“That way, we can stay for the midnight movies and not have to worry about walking through the dark so late at night.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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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.
