twilight

noun

twi·​light ˈtwī-ˌlīt 

often attributive

1

a

: the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and its dust

especially : such light immediately following sunset

b

: a time of twilight

2

a

: an intermediate state that is not clearly defined

… lived in the twilight of neutrality …

—Newsweek

b

: a period of decline

Synonyms of twilight

• dark
• dusk
• shadows
• night
• darkness
• blackness
• black
• gloom

Examples of twilight in a Sentence

The sun set and twilight fell.

stumbled around the twilight of the shuttered room, unable to see where she was going

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, both veterans in the twilight years of their respective careers are now teammates. —James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Dec. 2025

The twilight phase is in the middle session, but that usually comes around the back end of the second session and the start of the last session. —Matt Roller, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025

Another evening, at twilight, Perfidia and Pat have planted a bomb at the base of a transmission tower somewhere in the desert. —Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025

At a time when the age of the larger-than-life editor—think Graydon Carter or Anna Wintour—is in its twilight, Weiss is the rare journalist who has staked out a visible place in the cultural zeitgeist. —Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 17 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing twilight

• twilight glow
• twilight world
• twilight zone

Rhymes for twilight

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

Kids Definition

twilight

noun

twi·​light ˈtwī-ˌlīt 

: the period or the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night