night

1 of 2

noun

ˈnīt

Synonyms of night next

: the time from dusk to dawn when no sunlight is visible

The store is open all night.

: an evening or night taken as an occasion or point of time

the opening night

: an evening set aside for a particular purpose

Thursdays is game night in our house.

: the quality or state of being dark

approached the enemy's camp under cover of night

: 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 barbarism—

R. A. Hall

(2)

: absence of moral values

… that night which has for many centuries obscured our holy religion …—

Joseph Priestley

: the beginning of darkness : nightfall

worked in the fields until night

nightless

ˈnīt-ləs

adjective

night

2 of 2

adjective

: of, relating to, or associated with the night

night air

: intended for use at night

a night lamp

: existing, occurring, or functioning at night

night baseball

a night nurse

: active or functioning best at night

night people

Example Sentences

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. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Bezaires announced the closure on Instagram one week before their last night of service; their reservations booked up instantly. —

Stephanie Breijostaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2023 Stella, 14, and Hattie, 11, to see the closing night of Mean Girls at Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. —

Georgia Slater, Peoplemag, 30 Jan. 2023 Bruno Mars, who makes new music that sounds retro, was the night’s biggest winner. —

San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Jan. 2023 Spurs rookie Jeremy Sochan enjoyed almost everything about the best night of his still-fresh NBA career Saturday. —

Jeff Mcdonald, San Antonio Express-News, 28 Jan. 2023 The show won 251,000 viewers on its debut night, a rise of 49% compared to the time slot average. —

Brian Steinberg, Variety, 26 Jan. 2023 Boston, a team riddled with injuries at the moment, will play their second night of a back-to-back tonight after losing last night in Orlando. —

Nick Hennion, Chicago Tribune, 24 Jan. 2023 The Last of Us now has 18 million people that have watched its premiere, which is 4x more than its premiere night alone. —

Paul Tassi, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2023 He was diagnosed with a sinus infection and sent home after one trip to the hospital the night of the injury. —

The Indianapolis Star, 20 Jan. 2023

Adjective

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 Those performances will be followed by similar multi-night stops in Austin and Chicago. —

Christian Holub, EW.com, 20 June 2022 The trek will feature multi-night stands in major cities like Toronto, New York, Austin, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with Styles receiving support from Madi Diaz, Blood Orange, Gabriels, Jessie Ware, and Ben Harper on select dates. —

Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 24 May 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'night.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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 *nok^w-t-, whence Old Irish innocht "tonight," Welsh peunoeth "every night" (Welsh nos "night" perhaps going back to *nok^wt-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 *nek^wt-)