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Synonyms

nightingale

1 American  
[nahyt-n-geyl, nahy-ting-] / ˈnaɪt nˌgeɪl, ˈnaɪ tɪŋ- /

noun

  1. any of several small, Old World, migratory birds of the thrush family, especially Luscinia megarhynchos, of Europe, noted for the melodious song of the male, given chiefly at night during the breeding season.

Nightingale 2 American  
[nahyt-n-geyl, nahy-ting-] / ˈnaɪt nˌgeɪl, ˈnaɪ tɪŋ- /

noun

  1. Florence the Lady with the Lamp, 1820–1910, English nurse: reformer of hospital conditions and procedures; reorganizer of nurse's training programs.

nightingale 1 British  
/ ˈnaɪtɪŋˌɡeɪl /

noun

  1. a brownish European songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, with a broad reddish-brown tail: well known for its musical song, usually heard at night

  2. any of various similar or related birds, such as Luscinia luscinia ( thrush nightingale )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Nightingale 2 British  
/ ˈnaɪtɪŋˌɡeɪl /

noun

  1. Florence, known as the Lady with the Lamp. 1820–1910, English nurse, famous for her work during the Crimean War. She helped to raise the status and quality of the nursing profession and founded a training school for nurses in London (1860)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of nightingale

1200–50; Middle English nightyngale, nasalized variant of nightegale, Old English nihtegale, cognate with German Nachtigall, literally, night singer (compare Old English galan sing; akin to yell )

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.

He laid out the "hard problem" of working out how and why any of the complex operations of brains give rise to conscious experience, such as our emotional response when we hear a nightingale sing.

From BBC • May 25, 2025

Just as the familiar tune “In the Hall of the Mountain King” gradually builds speed “accelerando,” as the compositional notation is known, some birdsong does too, like that of the nightingale.

From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2023

In 1924, the BBC recorded the cellist Beatrice Harrison playing in her garden accompanied by a nightingale.

From The Guardian • Mar. 20, 2020

The book has the line “for the first time ever, a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.”

From The Verge • May 30, 2019

But now here she was crying and warbling like an Italian nightingale!

From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden

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.