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:
Because the New Moon also arrives on Aug. 12, moonlight will not interfere, creating ideal dark conditions for spotting meteors.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
Many nurses moonlight to cover bills, contributing to the epidemic of burnout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 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
Twirling under the moonlight, the women resemble a witch’s coven — their spells are good vibes, California weather and the boards beneath their feet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
“I’ll never get used to this,” May said as the sprouts grew under the moonlight.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Mets fans, always a rational bunch, attributed the turnaround to Grimace throwing out the first pitch at a game and a journeyman infielder who moonlights as a Latin pop singer by the name of Candelita.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 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
The story: Glen Powell is a philosophy professor who moonlights for the police in New Orleans when he finds himself undercover posing as a hit man in this Richard Linklater movie.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
“Right. I suppose he moonlights as a boxer?”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
He moonlighted as an Uber driver to land the lead role advising the ride-sharing company on its 2018 offering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
He unwound from the restaurant rush by hiking through Door County’s forests and fishing in its waterways while continuing Taco María’s successful salsa macha mail-order business; Emilie moonlighted as a grant writer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
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
Busby began moonlighting in the honky tonks and was soon making more money with his mandolin than he could as a fed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Meanwhile, he is considering moonlighting as a delivery driver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
The King, who seemed in festive form, joked with carol singers that they must be "moonlighting from the Royal Opera House" and teased reporters that they were not getting to test the drinks on display.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
The ski and snowboarding operation, which includes 25 lifts, 3,500 skiable acres and a season that usually runs November through June, was founded in 1953 by a moonlighting hydrologist named Dave McCoy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025
Ill Patrolman Mancuso had tried a little moonlighting in his effort to apprehend someone, anyone for the sergeant.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
