night shift
Americannoun
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night shifts
plural
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the workforce, as of a factory, scheduled to work during the nighttime.
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the scheduled period of labor for this workforce.
noun
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a group of workers who work a shift during the night in an industry or occupation where a day shift or a back shift is also worked
-
the period worked
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of night shift
First recorded in 1700–10
Compare meaning
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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.
At around 8 p.m., night shift workers shut down every gallery in South Hall, locking every prisoner inside his cell, including the porter, who sometimes acts as an additional set of eyes and ears.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
It worked on Raycer Martin, a 19-year-old student and wine-bar chef from Arizona who plays videogames to relax after his night shift.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
That matters because reduced DNA repair may be one pathway linking long-term night shift work with higher risk for certain cancers.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
Richard Thompson says his wife was working a night shift as a carer in Grimsby when her moped was stolen.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Our pink nights glowed with the raw luminescence of the night shift, of factories running around the clock.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
