noon

noun

ˈnün 

1

: midday

specifically : 12 o'clock at midday

2

archaic : midnight

—used chiefly in the phrase noon of night

3

: the highest point

Synonyms of noon

• midday

Examples of noon in a Sentence

The party will take place from noon to 4 p.m.

He showed up at precisely 12 noon.

Recent Examples on the Web

Liverpool will play a total of 180 minutes against Serie A side Como across two games tomorrow (Sunday), one behind closed doors at their training ground at noon locally, the other at Anfield at 6pm. — George Edwards, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2026

Ahead of our August Monthly Meeting livestream , which starts at noon ET, here's a look at what moved our three top and bottom performers since our last meeting. — Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 13 Aug. 2026

Riley left his grandmother’s apartment around noon Wednesday, about five hours before he was shot. — John Annese, New York Daily News, 13 Aug. 2026

Another round of storms moving east from Iowa are expected to bring several rounds of heavy rain starting around or after noon. — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 13 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English nōn ninth hour from sunrise, from Latin nona, from feminine of nonus ninth; akin to Latin novem nine — more at nine

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing noon

• high noon
• morning, noon, and night
• pre-noon

Rhymes for noon

• boon
• brune
• coon
• croon
• dune
• goon
• hewn
• hoon
• june
• loon
• moon
• poon

Kids Definition

noon

noun

ˈnün 

: the middle of the day : 12 o'clock in the daytime

noon adjective

Etymology

Old English nōn "ninth hour from sunrise," derived from Latin nona, a feminine form of nonus "ninth," from novem "nine"

Word Origin

Noon has not always meant "12 o'clock in the daytime." In the ancient Roman way of keeping track of time, the hours of the day were counted from sunrise to sunset. The ninth hour of their day (about 3 p.m. nowadays) was called nona, Latin for "ninth." In the early period of English, the word was borrowed as nōn, also referring to the ninth hour after sunrise. By the 14th century, however, the word came to be used for midday, 12 o'clock, as we use it today.