Synonyms of dawning

dawning 1 of 2

noun

as in dawn

the first appearance of light in the morning or the time of its appearance

the cold, gray dawning of a wintry day

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dawn
• sunrise
• day
• morn
• morning
• light
• daybreak
• daylight
• sun
• aurora
• sunup
• cockcrow
• daytime
• forenoon

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sunset
• nightfall
• night
• sundown
• darkness
• midnight
• dark
• afternoon
• nighttime
• evening
• midday
• twilight
• dusk
• eventide
• gloaming

dawning

2 of 2

verb

present participle of dawn

as in beginning

to come into existence

a smile dawned on his face as he got the joke

Synonyms & Similar Words

• beginning
• starting
• arising
• commencing
• originating
• being
• appearing
• emerging
• forming
• springing
• arriving
• existing
• living
• breaking
• actualizing
• engendering
• lasting
• materializing
• setting in
• breathing
• continuing
• coming on
• shaping (up)
• enduring
• surviving
• subsisting
• persisting
• coalescing
• cohering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ending
• stopping
• ceasing
• finishing
• concluding
• halting
• vanishing
• terminating
• disappearing
• discontinuing
• dying
• evaporating
• quitting
• dissolving
• departing
• expiring
• desisting
• perishing
• passing away

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of dawning

Noun

The quiet moments, the grief, the slow dawning of realization that her husband had written this piece as a way of dealing with his grief and her anger. — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Mar. 2026

Ever enterprising, Toha does eventually make her way back to the party, but there, the ultimate dawning of her place outside of Nelly’s circle is heartbreaking. — Alissa Simon, Variety, 25 Feb. 2026

His addition also heralded the dawning of an era in which LACMA actively sought to strengthen its connections with the entertainment world. — Arts Editor, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026

From the origins of the Yakuza, the dawning of chemical warfare, and FDR’s spy shops, the novel treks across World War II to the dawn of the Cold War. — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026

The dawning of light in this actor’s eyes breathes life into the old tale. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025

On social media, some people even suggested this was the dawning of a new populist coalition of left and right. — Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, 30 Nov. 2025

As the sun rises behind the ELT, the image stands for the dawning of a new era in astronomical discovery. — Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 17 Sep. 2025

This is the dawning of the age of school choice. — Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 14 Aug. 2025

Verb

The dawning potential of generative AI promises to radically change how movies and TV shows are made. — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026

There’s both a lot and not much at all going on in Kamei’s life, which is complicated by his dawning friendship — and maybe something more — with an American military brat, Colin (West Mulholland, Presence). — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026

In this dawning age of artificial intelligence, tech companies are racing to train and run their large language models using massive data centers that guzzle electricity and strain resources. — Arielle Frommer, Scientific American, 20 Aug. 2026

And Cooke, the season’s MVP of revealing expressions and reaction shots, conveys through Alicent’s uncertain and frightened face at all those butterflies a dawning realization of the betrayal she’s suffered. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

Léa Seydoux gives a very committed, unaffected performance as Lucy, an experimental pianist who must deal with the dawning knowledge that her beloved husband Philip (Laurence Rupp) has a second life online as a pedophile pornographer. — Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 15 May 2026

But the young nation was dawning a new age. — Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026

Three races in, there’ve been unforeseen winners, unpredicted changes to the schedule and the unanticipated reality of regulation changes dawning. — Amanda Davies, CNN Money, 24 Apr. 2026

This is the familiar stage of rhetorical climbdown, indicating dawning awareness that a problem is more complicated than the president initially thought. — S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 11 Mar. 2026