moonlight
Americannoun
adjective
-
pertaining to moonlight.
-
illuminated by moonlight.
-
occurring by moonlight, or at night.
verb (used without object)
-
moonlights,
present (3rd person singular)
-
moonlighted,
past participle, past
-
moonlighting
present participle
noun
-
Also called: moonshine. light from the sun received on earth after reflection by the moon
-
(modifier) illuminated by the moon
a moonlight walk
-
short for moonlight flit
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
moonlightsimple
-
moonlightssimple
-
have moonlightedperfect
-
has moonlightedperfect
-
am moonlightingprogressive
-
are moonlightingprogressive
-
is moonlightingprogressive
-
have been moonlightingperfect progressive
-
has been moonlightingperfect progressive
Past
-
moonlightedsimple
-
had moonlightedperfect
-
was moonlightingprogressive
-
were moonlightingprogressive
-
had been moonlightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of moonlight
1325–75; 1950–55 moonlight for def. 5; Middle English monelight
Explanation
Moonlight is literally the light we can see shining from the moon, but to moonlight is to work a second job. Get it? You have to work in the moonlight because there aren’t enough hours in the day. Moonlight is the reflection of the sun off the moon's surface — a clear sky and a full moon provide brilliant moonlight. Smugglers hate moonlight. If you moonlight, you work a second job, and it doesn’t have to be at night. If your history teacher also works as a mascot for a baseball team, he moonlights as a dancing bear. As a verb, it used to mean “commit crimes at night,” but now just means “to work a second job.”
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:
Many nurses moonlight to cover bills, contributing to the epidemic of burnout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
That meant some reflected moonlight from clouds in the lower atmosphere was present, but not enough to overwhelm the much fainter airglow signal.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2026
The audience rehashed its hunches, they circled potential suspects, they stared at a static image of a horrific crime scene, awash in twinkling moonlight.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
“You start to appreciate things more, I think, when your whole life is shaken up,” Kaslow said, looking out at the moonlight glimmering across the marina.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
And in the pale moonlight, the owl became not a woman, but something more.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
“His name is Sam. He moonlights as a lawyer too so he was prepping me,” says Jane, deadpan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Catriona Byers is a historian who moonlights as a food stylist.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
Sharon Lowell, a lead equipment operator, moonlights as a beekeeper on her San Juan Island property.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024
He works as a dental assistant and moonlights as a DJ, and said he lost three cars and $15,000 worth of DJ equipment in the fire, among other belongings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2023
Killian, a coal miner who moonlights as an emergency medical technician for the Healy Volunteer Fire Department, had a two- way radio on the Argo.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
He also moonlighted as a techno DJ, performing under the moniker Santa Militia at prominent nightclubs in London and promoting himself as having played at major venues from Bogotá to Buenos Aires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
When the family moved to California in 1962, Jan took a job as a janitor, and moonlighted as a freelance jazz musician with some fellow Dutch players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024
But the very existence of the film, which is loosely based on a seemingly strait-laced community college instructor who moonlighted as a fake assassin for the Houston police, proves just how much they fascinate us.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2024
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said his most nightmarish experience with the company occurred when he moonlighted as an Uber delivery driver.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2023
He moonlighted as a security guard for a jewelry company.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
At the time, Oxford had been moonlighting for a sales company that offered welding machines, generators, and other equipment door to door.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Some didn’t even sell insurance full-time, moonlighting from jobs in real estate or other fields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
As a teenager she was moonlighting as a referee, raising enough money to fund a trip to South Africa to watch the 2010 World Cup as a fan.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Commisso eventually got a job in commercial banking at Chase Manhattan, where his boss was unaware that he was moonlighting at a nightclub.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Teachers, especially a teacher moonlighting as a counselor, tend to get left out of student gossip.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
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.
