nocturnal
nocturnal Lexical Profile
nocturnal Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Active mainly during the night and sleeping during the day (used of animals, or of plants that bloom at night).
"Owls and bats are nocturnal creatures with specialized senses for navigating in the dark."
Done, occurring, or belonging to the night.
"The heavy rain and thunder interrupted his nocturnal rest."
• noun
An animal that is active primarily at night.
"The zoo's indoor dark-house exhibit was designed specifically to house small desert nocturnals."
A historical astronomical instrument used by navigators to determine local time at night by sighting the position of certain stars relative to the pole star.
"Before the invention of the marine chronometer, sailors often relied on a brass nocturnal to tell the hour after sunset."
• Rhymes for nocturnal
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 15th century from Late Latin nocturnalis, derived from Classical Latin nocturnus ('belonging to the night'), from nox ('night').