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
Severe thunderstorms are forecast to rumble to life Wednesday afternoon in portions of the Plains and Mississippi Valley and track into the Midwest through Wednesday night. Mary Gilbert, CNN, 13 Mar. 2024 Election night results had DeMaio far out in front with Juza in second place, but Hayes was in striking distance to leapfrog the Democrat. Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2024 Friday night and Saturday night lows settle in the 40s to near 50. Dan Stillman, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024 The Trojans weren’t the only ones leaving MGM Grand Garden Arena as major winners Sunday night. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024 As Oscar night fades in the rearview, arguments over who got robbed and who had the nicest dress continue to recede. Jordan Hoffman, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024 The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to $735 million for Tuesday night's drawing after no one won the big prize on Friday. USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2024 The announcement includes the lineup for Saturday and Sunday, since the City of West Hollywood presents a yearly Friday night edition that’s free to the public with performers announced on a later date. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2024 Jamie xx is the Saturday night headlining, capping off a day featuring Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessie Ware, De La Soul, UNWOUND, Bratmobile, Wednesday, Water From Your Eyes, Sweeping Promises, feeble little horse, Hotline TNT, Kara Jackson, L’Rain, and Lifeguard. Pitchfork, 13 Mar. 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 Both of the hotel brand's overwater-bungalow resorts in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani, are launchpads for day cruises or longer, multi-night sailings. Chrissie McClatchie, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Dec. 2022 Fortunately, most online mattress companies offer a multi-night sleep trial, typically ranging from a few months up to a year. Deirdre Mundorf, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2021 Including those multi-night runs, the total number of shows scheduled for summer 2023 comes to 27. Chris Willman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2022 All-inclusive nightly rates begin at about $1,000 per couple, but there are multi-night packages that discount this 20-40%. Larry Olmsted, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2022 Universal Orlando has started selling tickets, multi-night admission and express passes for the 2022 edition of Halloween Horror Nights, which kicks off at Universal Studios on Sept. 2. Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 26 July 2022 Murphy and crew made their live comeback last year with a multi-night residency at Brooklyn Steel in New York, and have continued performing this year. Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2022

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 18 Mar. 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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