nightly
Americanadjective
adjective
-
happening or relating to each night
-
happening at night
adverb
Etymology
Origin of nightly
before 900; Middle English; Old English nihtlīc. See night, -ly
Explanation
Nightly things happen on a regular basis, every single night. Your nightly exercise routine and sponge bath are good examples of this. You can use nightly as an adjective or adverb, to describe something that occurs every night. The sun sets nightly, and most people eat dinner nightly and climb into bed nightly. Your exercise regimen might include nightly sit ups, and your dog may require nightly walks around the block. The Old English root of nightly is niht, which means both "night" and "darkness."
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.
A viewer’s guide to Warren Buffett’s nightly trips down the YouTube rabbit hole.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Others said they wind up serving foods like chicken nuggets more often than they’d like because they don’t have the bandwidth for nightly battles over meals that picky eaters may or may not eat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
This nightly routine is a show in and of itself, with acrobats stretching, tumbling and throwing one another in the air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Vazquez compares the nightly flights bats make while hunting insects to running several ultramarathons every day.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
So no one saw the teasers for the nightly news or watched the news that evening.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
