Dawning

//ˈdɑːnɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Dawn. poetic

    "Anone after cam the knyght with the two ſwerdes and balan his broder ⸝ and brought with hem kynge Ryons of Northwalys and there delyuerd hym to the porters and charged hem with hym ⸝ & ſoo they two retorned ageyne in the daunyng of the day ⸝[…]"

  2. 2
    the first light of day wordnet
  3. 3
    The first beginnings of something.
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of dawn form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
alphaaurorabeginningbirthbreak of daybreak of the day

Example

More examples

"The truth of the matter is dawning on him."

Etymology

From Middle English dawnynge, an alteration of dawing, under the influence of North Germanic cognates (compare Swedish, Danish dagning). See daw (“to dawn”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.