midnight

[ mid-nahyt ]
See synonyms for midnight on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the middle of the night; twelve o'clock at night.

adjective
  1. of or relating to midnight.

  2. resembling midnight, as in darkness.

Idioms about midnight

  1. burn the midnight oil, to study or work far into the night: After months of burning the midnight oil, he really needed a vacation.

Origin of midnight

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English midniht.See mid-, night

Other words from midnight

  • midnightly, adjective, adverb
  • post·mid·night, adjective
  • pre·mid·night, noun

Words Nearby midnight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use midnight in a sentence

  • I thought we were in for an encore performance, but gradually the uproar died away, and by midnight all was quiet.

  • About midnight the combination of sultry heat and banked clouds produced the usual results.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • The girls sat up till midnight, at which time Haggard and his friend were due from Rome.

  • Once more these huge explosions unloading their cargoes of midnight on to the evening gloom.

  • Edna was sobbing, just as she had wept one midnight at Grand Isle when strange, new voices awoke in her.

British Dictionary definitions for midnight

midnight

/ (ˈmɪdˌnaɪt) /


noun
    • the middle of the night; 12 o'clock at night

    • (as modifier): the midnight hour

  1. burn the midnight oil to work or study late into the night

Derived forms of midnight

  • midnightly, adjective, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012