Benight
verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To overtake (a traveller etc) with the darkness of night, especially before shelter is reached. archaic, transitive
"How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almost ſpent."
- 2 make darker and difficult to perceive by sight wordnet
- 3 To darken; to shroud or obscure. archaic, transitive
"The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning; / Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air."
- 4 envelop with social, intellectual, or moral darkness wordnet
- 5 To plunge or be overwhelmed in moral or intellectual darkness. archaic, transitive
"Can we whose souls are lighted With Wisdom from on high, Can we to men benighted The lamp of life deny?"
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- 6 overtake with darkness or night wordnet
Example
More examples"How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almost ſpent."
Etymology
From Middle English benyghten, binighten, bynyȝten, equivalent to be- + night.
Related phrases
More for "benight"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.