midnight
Americannoun
adjective
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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
-
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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.
The only times available on the apps are either 5 p.m. or 10:30 p.m., or every possible slot is gone, even though you logged on at midnight, weeks in advance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The time restriction would be enabled by default settings on social media accounts for children aged 16 and 17, preventing them from accessing social media sites between midnight and 6:00 am.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Singers performed on four stages, and the festivities went on past midnight.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Conditions were very different in the midnight regions of the caves.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
The ash turned the day to the blackest midnight.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
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.
