Matutinal
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of, occurring in, or relating to the morning, especially the early morning upon waking up. formal, literary, not-comparable
"1874, Henry James, "Professor Fargo" in The Galaxy 18(2) (August 1874): 233–253. [A] young lady was introduced who had come to request him to raise a ghost—a resolute young lady, with several ringlets and a huge ancestral umbrella, whose matutinal appetite for the supernatural had not been quenched by the raw autumnal storm."
- 2 Active in the morning; waking up early. formal, literary, not-comparable
"Pen, putting on his hat, strode forth into the air, and almost over the body of the matutinal housemaid, who was rubbing the steps at the door."
- 1 pertaining to or occurring in the morning wordnet
Example
More examples"1874, Henry James, "Professor Fargo" in The Galaxy 18(2) (August 1874): 233–253. [A] young lady was introduced who had come to request him to raise a ghost—a resolute young lady, with several ringlets and a huge ancestral umbrella, whose matutinal appetite for the supernatural had not been quenched by the raw autumnal storm."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French matutinal (modern French matutinal), and from its etymon Late Latin mātūtīnālis (“(adjective) belonging to the morning; of or pertaining to matins; (noun) morning hymn or psalm; book of lauds”), from Latin mātūtīnus (“of, occurring in, or pertaining to the early morning, matutine”) (from Mātūta (“Roman goddess of the dawn or morning”) (from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“to mature, ripen; opportune, timely; good, great”)) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The second sense (“active in the morning; waking up early”) is possibly modelled after French matinal (“relating to the morning, matinal”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.