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Synonyms

nightly

American  
[nahyt-lee] / ˈnaɪt li /

adjective

  1. coming or occurring each night.

    his nightly walk to the newsstand.

  2. coming, occurring, appearing, or active at night.

    nightly revels.

  3. of, relating to, or characteristic of night.

    the nightly gloom before a storm.

adverb

  1. on every night.

    performances given nightly.

  2. at or by night.

    an animal that is seen nightly.
nightly British  
/ ˈnaɪtlɪ /

adjective

  1. happening or relating to each night

  2. happening at night

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. at night or each night

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of nightly

before 900; Middle English; Old English nihtlīc. See night, -ly

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.

She said during the initial nightly US-Israeli strikes on the city the prisoners were "hiding under their beds".

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

At the meditation center, Sarah found people bathing with her hose nightly and leaving the water running, cutting into water lines, and making warming fires close to the building.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

But once the evening news put the Vietnam War’s reality into America’s living room nightly, what was once funny and innocent just wasn’t funny any more.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

The thing that got me closer to being comfortable with the notion of having fans was the pandemic, when we were doing “The Tweedy Show” on a nightly basis.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026

Most nights, after Dottie was in bed, Bobby would join Mac there on the sofa to watch the nightly news.

From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers

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.