morning
Americannoun
adjective
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of or relating to morning.
the morning hours.
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occurring, appearing, used, etc., in the morning.
a morning coffee break.
noun
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the first part of the day, ending at or around noon
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sunrise; daybreak; dawn
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the beginning or early period
the morning of the world
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informal the aftereffects of excess, esp a hangover
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(modifier) of, used, or occurring in the morning
morning coffee
Usage
What is a basic definition of morning? Morning refers to the beginning of the day. Morning is used figuratively to refer to the beginning of anything. Morning is also used to describe something that involves or occurs during the morning. Depending on who you ask, the exact hours of the morning will be different. Generally speaking, morning begins either at sunrise or at midnight (12 a.m.) and ends at noon (12 p.m.).
- Real-life examples: People usually sleep at night and wake up in the morning. The sun rises in the morning. Roosters are known to crow during the morning when the sun comes up.
- Used in a sentence: I would rather sleep until noon than wake up early in the morning.
- Real-life examples: The first movies were made in the morning of the film industry. Babyhood is the morning of a human’s life.
- Used in a sentence: Archaeologists discovered artifacts left behind by people who lived during the morning of civilization.
- Real-life examples: A morning person likes being awake in the morning. A morning shower is taken in the early part of the day.
- Used in a sentence: Delivering the morning newspaper means waking up at 5 a.m.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of morning
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English; morn + -ing 1; modeled on evening
Explanation
Morning is the earliest part of the day. No matter what time you get up, morning ends at noon. Originally, in the 13th century, morning meant the time just before sunrise. Now, morning technically starts at 12:00am and lasts until 12:00pm. If you describe yourself as a "morning person," you like to get up early. Strangely enough, a "night person," who stays up very late might not go to bed until several early-morning hours have passed.
Vocabulary lists containing morning
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.
Voting took place across the tiny Mediterranean island nation on Saturday, and ballots were ferried overnight to the Counting Hall in Naxxar, where counting begins on Sunday morning.
From Barron's • May 31, 2026
Collison recalled Brockman learning one afternoon that a crucial, unexpected deadline had to either be met by the next morning, or in a month.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
The idea is generally tracked back to a Parsi banker, who hired a man to pick up his lunch from home each morning, deliver it to his office and return the empty box later.
From BBC • May 29, 2026
More than 100 people were displaced after a large fire quickly spread through an apartment complex in Riverside Friday morning, fire officials said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Certainly he was not one of Betsie’s “regulars” for winter morning coffee.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
