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

see also:

morning, noon, and night

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

Around noon Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received a call from a local golf course patron who noticed a possible body floating downstream in the Dominguez Channel, the department said in a statement. — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

From the moment the shutters were lifted, at noon, until they were pulled down, at ten, there were men outside. — Akhil Sharma, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2026

These figures have increased from 1,114 and 3,916 respectively, a day earlier, according to the Nepali Government’s National Disaster Management Authority’s latest update, as of Thursday at noon. — Anna Bourke, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026

At noon that same day, her cellmates notified the correctional officer who failed to review Babb’s documents a few hours earlier. — Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 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.