night

1 of 2

noun

1
: the time from dusk to dawn when no sunlight is visible
The store is open all night.
2
a
: an evening or night taken as an occasion or point of time
the opening night
b
: an evening set aside for a particular purpose
Thursdays is game night in our house.
3
a
: the quality or state of being dark
approached the enemy's camp under cover of night
b
: a condition or period felt to resemble the darkness of night: such as
(1)
: a period of dreary inactivity or affliction
the glories of Roman civilization were lost in a gloomy night of ignorance, superstition, and barbarismR. A. Hall
(2)
: absence of moral values
… that night which has for many centuries obscured our holy religion …Joseph Priestley
c
: the beginning of darkness : nightfall
worked in the fields until night
nightless adjective

night

2 of 2

adjective

1
: of, relating to, or associated with the night
night air
2
: intended for use at night
a night lamp
3
a
: existing, occurring, or functioning at night
night baseball
a night nurse
b
: active or functioning best at night
night people

Examples of night in a Sentence

Noun Who are you calling at this time of night? It's eleven o'clock at night. She and her husband both work at night and sleep during the day. The store's open all night. They were up all night long playing video games. Let's stop for the night and get a hotel. a cold, rainy night in the city I stayed up late five nights in a row. Last night, I had the strangest dream. Spend six nights and seven days on a tropical island in the Caribbean! Adjective He is taking a night flight. a night manager at the supermarket This is the last night bus.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Harris is set to participate in a town hall on Wednesday night hosted by CNN. Erin Doherty, Axios, 23 Oct. 2024 On Saturday night, playing in extra innings in Cleveland with a trip to the World Series on the line, the New York Yankees' season was in jeopardy—but the Bronx Bombers knew that anyone of their teammates could turn things around instantly. Don Yaeger, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024
Adjective
The theater hosted rare Milwaukee stops for such performers as Kevin Costner, Dana Carvey and Ray Romano with Brad Garrett, while acts like Cheap Trick, Rick Springfield, Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and the Brian Setzer Orchestra held multi-night residencies. Journal Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2023 The pair can also arrange multi-night pack trips or erect a camp next to an old miner’s cabin for a backcountry-light experience catered by the house chef. Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 4 Feb. 2023 See all Example Sentences for night 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'night.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English night, niht, going back to Old English nieht, niht, umlauted form of neaht, næht, going back to Germanic *naht- (whence Old Saxon & Old High German naht "night," Old Norse nótt, nátt, Gothic nahts), going back to Indo-European *nokw-t-, whence Old Irish innocht "tonight," Welsh peunoeth "every night" (Welsh nos "night" perhaps going back to *nokwt-stu-), Latin noct-, nox "night," Old Church Slavic noštĭ, Lithuanian naktìs, Greek nykt-, nýx, Sanskrit nakt-, nak, Hittite nekuz "in the evening" (from an oblique case stem *nekwt-)

Adjective

attributive use of night entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

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

Adjective

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of night was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near night

Cite this Entry

“Night.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/night. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

night

noun
ˈnīt
1
: the time between dusk and dawn when there is no sunlight
2
3
: the darkness of night
night adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on night

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