nightfall
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of nightfall
Explanation
Nightfall is the part of a day when the sun goes down and evening begins. In suburban neighborhoods, parents often call their kids to come home for dinner at nightfall. It gets dark at nightfall, marking the end of the day. You can also all this time dusk or twilight. If your dad warns you to be home from your bike ride by nightfall, he wants you home before sunset. Nightfall has a bit of an old fashioned, poetic sound, and it dates from the early eighteenth century, a combination of night, from the Old English niht, or "darkness," and fall, or "come suddenly."
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.
Come nightfall, capturing the lightning bugs during the few hours they appear each evening takes stamina and perseverance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
By nightfall, the country would begin to learn the outcome.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
By nightfall, my table sat above the city at the NH Collection Calderón rooftop over Rambla de Catalunya.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2025
The great paradox of a new celebrity version, she smiles, is that none of their careers and reputations "count for anything come nightfall".
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
“It may be some time before nightfall, and I get hungry in the cold.”
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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.
