nightclub
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of nightclub
Explanation
A nightclub is a bar or a disco where people can dance or be entertained late into the night. There are many nightclubs in New York City, but there are no nightclubs at all in most tiny Vermont villages. Visitors to a nightclub can eat and drink; watch singers, dancers, or comedians perform; and usually also dance to live music or songs played by a DJ. You can also call a nightclub a "club" for short — the dance floor is what distinguishes it from a bar or a pub. The word nightclub sounds modern, but it dates from the late nineteenth century.
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 center of social gravity has moved from the nightclub to the workout, the class and the calmer room.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
A nightclub cannot replace courts, organizing, voting, or protest.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Presumably, both sexes have been players in such nightclub frivolities as “helium balloon singalongs, psychedelic projections and nursery-style games with building blocks”—amusements that were popular in the 1960s at Cerebrum, a club in New York.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
It will soon become the outdoor patio of Origin, an ambitious new indoor-outdoor nightclub and live music venue from two veteran promoters in L.A.’s underground electronic scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
He had Nina Mae McKinney, Josephine Baker, and a photo of two Harlem nightclub dancers posing together.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Kavinsky was a defining act of the Paris electronic scene of the 2000s and 2010s, whose neon-smeared synths and noirish atmospheres lent themselves to L.A. freeways and Montmartre nightclubs alike.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Unpopulated nightclubs as empty as a cemetery at midnight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Thailand's lax approach to health and safety regulations -- particularly in its bars and nightclubs -- has long raised concerns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
Kenyans have a taste for their own music, which plays anywhere from weddings and nightclubs, to protests and political rallies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Reginald and I went to the Savoy Ballroom, the Apollo Theater, the Braddock Hotel bar, the nightclubs and speakeasies, wherever Negroes played music.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
The ads touted the faded resort’s reputation as a nightclubbing spot - despite the fact that nightclubs are currently closed to enforce social distancing.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 29, 2020
Among the nightspots where now-infected people congregated, it skirted a national coronavirus ban on nightclubbing by converting itself into a late-night watering hole, blocking off its dance floor with tables and bar stools.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2020
I’m sure that in his nightclubbing life in New York he was delighted to rub shoulders with prominent black athletes and so forth.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2016
In the weeks after a newborn’s arrival, it may seem as far-fetched as nightclubbing.
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2013
Jack Ravenhurst went into her own room after flashing me a rather hurt smile that was supposed to indicate her disappointment in not being allowed to go nightclubbing.
From A Spaceship Named McGuire by Garrett, Randall
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.
