dawn

verb \ ˈdȯn , ˈdän \

|Updated on: 24 Jun 2018

Examples: dawn in a Sentence

Definition of dawn

intransitive verb

1 : to begin to grow light as the sun rises

waited for the day to dawn

2 : to begin to appear or develop

a new era is dawning

3 : to begin to be perceived or understood

the truth finally dawned on us

See dawn defined for English-language learners

See dawn defined for kids

Examples of dawn in a Sentence

They waited for the day to dawn.
A new age is dawning.

Recent Examples of dawn from the Web

For the first time in this Triple Crown series, race day dawned sunny and dry.

— childs walker, baltimoresun.com, "Justify becomes 13th Triple Crown winner with thrilling Belmont victory," 9 June 2018
Hark, the age of the non-car form of transportation has dawned.

— aarian marshall, WIRED, "Lyft Wants to Dominate Transportation, and That Means Bike Share," 1 June 2018
But all this discussion (and realization that the logo hasn't fully dawned on everyone) leads to the question: At least Brewers fans are all aware of the double-visual, right?

— jr radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "All Brewers fans recognize the hidden characters in the ball-in-glove logo, right? Right?," 4 June 2018
Then the realization dawns that this movie is a sort of fusion of Eastwood’s other recent directorial projects, Sully (2016) and American Sniper (2015).

— josephine livingstone, New Republic, "The 15:17 to Paris is a Strange, Strange Journey," 14 Feb. 2018
On the morning of August 17 last year, a new era of astronomy dawned with a flash in the sky.

— lee billings, Scientific American, "Better Instruments Give Scientists a New Way to Study the Cosmos," 1 Jan. 2018
As Saturday dawned, royal fans, some of whom had traveled thousands of miles to the U.K., waved flags and crowded the streets of Windsor in anticipation of the event.

— jenny gross, WSJ, "Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Royal Wedding Gives British Pageantry a Modern Glow," 19 May 2018
As dawned neared, the conversation wound down and Sheaffer thanked the man repeatedly.

— Detroit Free Press, "He helped start 1967 Detroit riot, now his son struggles with the legacy," 15 May 2018
Derby day dawned wet and gray, with rain falling at varying intensity throughout the morning and afternoon.

— childs walker, baltimoresun.com, "Favorite Justify puts curse to rest in winning sloppy 144th Kentucky Derby," 5 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dawn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of dawn

Middle English, probably back-formation from dawning daybreak, alteration of dawing, from Old English dagung, from dagian — see ¹daw

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

dawn Synonyms

dawn

noun

Definition of dawn

1 : the first appearance of light in the morning followed by sunrise

danced till dawn

at the crack of dawn

Almost before the first faint sign of dawn appeared she arose again …
—Thomas Hardy

2 : beginning

the dawn of the space age

See dawn defined for English-language learners

Examples of dawn in a Sentence

as dawn breaks over the city
Winter brings late dawns and early sunsets.

Recent Examples of dawn from the Web

The stands at Lynn Stadium were awash with purple and the sky with gold Tuesday evening, when the setting sun closed the door on New England Revolution's U.S. Open Cup run and signaled a new dawn for Louisville City FC.

— danielle lerner, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville City FC's latest Open Cup win signals a bright future," 6 June 2018
An Army history states that 13,000 soldiers from the 6th British Airborne Division, the U.S. 82nd and 101st airborne divisions and the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, jumped into France hours before the dawn landings from 925 C-47s.

— sig christenson, San Antonio Express-News, "Surviving Doolittle Raider flies on restored D-Day plane," 6 June 2018
Tite's arrival in 2016 signalled the beginning of a new dawn for the Canarinho after two years floundering on the wayside under former manager Dunga.

— SI.com, "2018 FIFA World Cup Team Preview: Analysing Brazil's Chances at the Tournament," 3 June 2018
For Rinaldi, each day of the French Open has been a dawn-to-dusk marathon.

— kurt streeter, New York Times, "America’s ‘Tennis Mom’ Makes Her Rounds at the French Open," 1 June 2018
The two bright objects will appear to be separated by only three degrees in the dawn sky.

— National Geographic, "Naked-Eye Asteroid and More Can't-Miss Sky Events in June," 1 June 2018
The visually sumptuous photographs were all taken on Newhaven Beach in East Sussex, which Talibart began visiting weekly in 2016, arriving at dawn and waiting hours in hopes of catching the perfect light and weather.

— michael hardy, WIRED, "You've Never Seen Waves Like This Before," 31 May 2018
With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained.

— gabriel winant, The New Republic, "Barbara Ehrenreich’s radical critique of wellness and self-improvement," 23 May 2018
The truck, emblazoned with a large red menu and a photo of the encroaching dawn, sits in front of a large oak tree that doubles as a broom closet.

— michael russell, OregonLive.com, "One of the Portland area's best taco trucks is back after a long winter hiatus," 22 May 2018