midnight

noun

mid·​night ˈmid-ˌnīt 

1

: the middle of the night

specifically : 12 o'clock at night

2

: deep or extended darkness or gloom

midnight adjective

midnightly adverb or adjective

Examples of midnight in a Sentence

Her parents wanted her home before midnight.

It was 12 midnight when we arrived home.

Recent Examples on the Web

YouTube pulled Disney’s content from its pay TV platform after an October 31 midnight deadline saw negotiations at an impasse. —Liam Reilly, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025

The best time to watch is after midnight through pre-dawn hours, when the radiant (the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate) of the Leo constellation rises higher in the sky. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 15 Nov. 2025

Officers responded just after midnight to the 300 block of North James Street. —Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 15 Nov. 2025

Associated with a group that included Max Jacob and Pierre Reverdy, Jean Follain was struck by a car and killed just after midnight in Paris in 1971, a brutal irony considering how many of his poems are rutted by farm carts and horse carriages and apple wagons. —Literary Hub, 14 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing midnight

• burn the midnight oil
• midnight blue
• midnight sun
• the midnight hour

Rhymes for midnight

• affright
• airtight
• albite
• alight
• alright
• aplite
• aright
• bainite
• birthright
• bobwhite
• bornite
• bullfight

Kids Definition

midnight

noun

mid·​night ˈmid-ˌnīt 

: 12 o'clock at night

midnight adjective