twilight
twilight Lexical Profile
twilight Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The period of the evening during which this soft illumination is visible.
"The streetlights automatically flickered on as twilight settled over the city."
The soft, glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the refraction and scattering of the sun's rays from the atmosphere.
"We sat on the porch and watched the colors fade in the deepening twilight."
A period or state of obscurity, ambiguity, or gradual decline.
"The aging emperor spent the twilight of his reign quietly tending to his gardens."
Word Nuance & Usage
While scientifically 'twilight' can refer to the periods either immediately before sunrise (dawn) or after sunset (dusk), in standard conversational usage it almost exclusively refers to the evening.
• Rhymes for twilight
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English 'twilight', formed from the Old English prefix 'twi-' (meaning 'two', 'half', or 'between') combined with 'light'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.