night
Americannoun
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nights
plural
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the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
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the beginning of this period; nightfall.
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the darkness of night; the dark.
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a condition or time of obscurity, ignorance, sinfulness, misfortune, etc..
the long night of European history known as the Dark Ages.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) an evening used or set aside for a particular event, celebration, or other special purpose.
a night on the town; poker night; New Year's Night.
adjective
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of or relating to night.
the night hours.
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occurring, appearing, or seen at night.
a night raid; a night bloomer.
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used or designed to be used at night.
to take a night coach; the night entrance.
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working at night.
night nurse; the night shift.
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active at night.
the night feeders of the jungle.
idioms
noun
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the period of darkness each 24 hours between sunset and sunrise, as distinct from day
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(modifier) of, occurring, working, etc, at night
a night nurse
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the occurrence of this period considered as a unit
four nights later they left
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the period between sunset and retiring to bed; evening
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the time between bedtime and morning
she spent the night alone
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the weather conditions of the night
a clear night
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the activity or experience of a person during a night
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(sometimes capital) any evening designated for a special observance or function
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nightfall or dusk
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a state or period of gloom, ignorance, etc
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to go out and celebrate for most of the night
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continually
that baby cries night and day
Usage
What is a basic definition of night? Night refers to the time of day between sunset and sunrise. The word night can also refer to the darkness that accompanies this period or an evening reserved for a certain event. Night can also be used as an adjective to describe something that happens at night. Night has a few other senses as a noun and an adjective. Generally speaking, night doesn’t begin or end at any specific times. We usually consider it to be night when the sun has set completely and all sunlight is gone. Night ends when the sun rises and illuminates the sky again.
- Real-life examples: In the northern hemisphere, nights are longer during the winter and shorter during the summer. Most people go to sleep at night.
- Used in a sentence: The kids aren’t allowed outside at night because it’s too dark to see well.
- Used in a sentence: To gaze at the stars, you need to let your eyes adjust to the night.
- Real-life examples: Children go trick-or-treating on Halloween Night. A TV show might be aired every Friday night. A couple may decide to schedule a date night.
- Used in a sentence: My mom makes us go to bed early on school nights.
- Real-life examples: Crimes often happen during the night hours. Some people work night jobs or have night shifts at work. You can see the stars in the night sky. A person who works late might have to take the night bus home.
- Used in a sentence: I have been taking night classes because my job keeps me busy during the day.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of night
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English niht, neaht; cognate with German Nacht, Gothic nahts, Latin nox (stem noct- ), Greek nýx (stem nykt- )
Explanation
At the end of the day, when the sun goes down and the world gets dark, it's night. If you work at night, you have to get used to sleeping in the middle of the day. Night lasts approximately as long as the dark period of a 24-hour day, although in some parts of the world it stays bright and sunny throughout the night in the summertime, and in other areas the sun goes down in the afternoon during winter, long before night has fallen. The Old English root word niht means both "night" and "darkness."
Vocabulary lists containing night
Black and Gray
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Spelling Practice 2, Unit 8
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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.
See Examples For:
The race is held at night, but temperatures remain in the region of 30C even after dark.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The country singer also asked fans to donate to the Young Center for Immigrant Rights, which helps children whose parents have faced deportations, during the opening night of her tour in Chicago back in August.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Russian news outlet People of Baikal said that an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, whom it named as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, died the previous night from a suspected case of pneumonic plague.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Since most of the flights arrive after the last ferry leaves Kos, you’ll likely have to spend a night in Greece on the way, but what’s the rush?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
This is the night that plays in your mind on a loop, even in physics on finals day.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Yet Kay never stopped writing songs; occasionally she’d even perform them at school coffeehouse nights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
On Thursday and Saturday nights, they were nasty and resonant as a live band, even beneath 160,000 square feet of LED mayhem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
After sleepless nights and days of AI-enhanced sleuthing, they’ve now discovered a lot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
They aren’t up nights pondering the claims of the silent constituencies of the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
But when at last they left, it was as though the Afterlife knew how the event had depleted Clare, and it always gave him the following three nights off.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
