Nighttime

//ˈnaɪtˌtaɪm// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise; the night. countable, uncountable

    "Nighttime fell like the opening / In the final act of the beginning of time"

  2. 2
    the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to nighttime; appropriate to the night. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Happening during the night. not-comparable

    "Discourage nighttime prowlers by installing motion-sensitive lights."

Synonyms

All synonyms
nightnightnightdarkdarknessmidnight

Example

More examples

"Even at nighttime, it was not quiet and peaceful any more."

Etymology

From Middle English nyght tyme, nyȝttyme, equivalent to night + time. Compare Dutch nachttijd, German Nachtzeit, Danish nattetid, Swedish nattetid. Compare also Middle English nyȝter tyme (“nighttime”), from Old Norse náttartími, nætrtími (“nighttime”).

Related phrases

night-timesnighttime diapernighttime nappy

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