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.
In it, a husband and wife adopt a cat, Sheila, who develops an unnerving disposition come nightfall.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
By nightfall, the country would begin to learn the outcome.
From Slate • Mar. 31, 2026
By nightfall, videos show public gatherings across Tehran, Karaj and Isfahan, where thousands of Iranians celebrate or mourn Khamenei’s killing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
In the weeks that followed its capture, the streets emptied out at nightfall and the buzz evaporated from the bars that had once offered some respite in a region scarred by three decades of conflict.
From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026
“We’ll have to be back before nightfall so she won’t even know. We find the treasure, grab it, save Zheng, and get home as soon as possible.”
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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.
