autumn

American  

[aw-tuhm] / ˈɔ təm /

noun

1. the season between summer and winter; fall. In the Northern Hemisphere it is from the September equinox to the December solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere it is from the March equinox to the June solstice.

2. a time of full maturity, especially the late stages of full maturity or, sometimes, the early stages of decline.

   to be in the autumn of one's life.

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autumn British  

/ ˈɔːtəm /

noun

1. (sometimes capital)

   1. Also called (esp US): fall.  the season of the year between summer and winter, astronomically from the September equinox to the December solstice in the N hemisphere and from the March equinox to the June solstice in the S hemisphere

   2. ( as modifier )

      autumn leaves

2. a period of late maturity, esp one followed by a decline

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Etymology

Origin of autumn

1325–75; < Latin autumnus; replacing Middle English autumpne < Middle French autompne < Latin

Explanation

Autumn is the season after summer, when leaves fall from trees. It's also the season when the days get shorter and colder, and everything turns brown and drab, but people like it anyway, for the cocoa and cider, probably. Autumn is the third season of the year, coming after summer and before winter, and coinciding with the dropping of leaves from the trees as they go into a winter rest, which is why it's also called fall. We also use autumn metaphorically to talk about the seasons of a person's life, like that luminous older actress in the autumn of her career: she's not yet playing roles in nursing homes, but neither is she scampering around in bikinis.

Example Sentences

Looking even farther back, AI excitement has largely driven the broader bull market rally that began in the autumn of 2021.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

Nvidia said PCs containing its new RTX Spark chip, made by the likes of Dell, Asus and Lenovo, will go on sale this autumn.

From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026

Plenty will say he is lucky not to have had his contract torn up and last week, he did not dismiss the idea of signing another when this term expires in the autumn of 2027.

From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026

The DIP was initially expected to be published in autumn 2025.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026

By the autumn of 1914, fighting on the Western Front—Belgium and France—had shifted back to the north as the opposing armies maneuvered to outflank one another.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman