Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense dawns, present participle dawning, past tense, past participle dawned
1. variable noun
Dawn is the time of day when light first appears in the sky, just before the sun rises.
Nancy woke at dawn.
Synonyms: daybreak, morning, sunrise, dawning More Synonyms of dawn
2. singular noun
Thedawnof a period of time or a situation is the beginning of it.
[literary]
...the dawn of powered flight.
...the dawn of the radio age.
Synonyms: beginning, start, birth, rise More Synonyms of dawn
3. verb
If something is dawning, it is beginning to develop or come into existence.
[written]
The age of the computerized toilet has dawned. [VERB]
A new era seemed to be about to dawn for the coach and his young team. [VERB]
Now there is a dawning realisation that drastic action is necessary. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: begin, start, open, rise More Synonyms of dawn
dawningsingular noun
...the dawning of the space age.
Tettlinger felt the first dawning of hope.
4. verb
When you say that a particular day dawned, you mean it arrived or began, usually when it became light.
[written]
When the great day dawned, the first concern was the weather. [VERB]
The next day dawned sombre and gloomy. [VERB adjective]
Synonyms: grow light, break, brighten, lighten More Synonyms of dawn
5. at the crack of dawn
Phrasal verbs:
See dawn on
dawn in British English
(dɔːn)
noun
1.
daybreak; sunrise
▶ Related adjective: auroral
2.
the sky when light first appears in the morning
3.
the beginning of something
verb(intransitive)
4.
to begin to grow light after the night
5.
to begin to develop, appear, or expand
6. (usually foll byon or upon)
to begin to become apparent (to)
Derived forms
dawnlike (ˈdawnˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English dagian to dawn; see day
Dawn in American English
(dɔn)
noun
a feminine name
Word origin
see dawn
dawn in American English
(dɔn; dɑn)
verb intransitive
1.
to begin to be day; grow light
2.
to begin to appear or develop; come forth
3.
to begin to be understood or felt
usually with on or upon
the meaning suddenly dawned on me
noun
4.
the beginning of daylight in the morning; daybreak
5.
the beginning (of something)
the dawn of the Space Age
Word origin
ME daunen, back-form. < dauninge, earlier dauinge, daybreak, prob. altered (infl. by ON dagan, dawn) < OE dagung < dagian, to become day < dæg, day
More idioms containing
dawn
a false dawn
at the crack of dawn
Examples of 'dawn' in a sentence
dawn
Her wedding day dawns and she's stranded in the woods.
The Sun (2016)
For watching the dawning of the new world, there was probably no better place to be.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
New dawn of co-operation ahead.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
How marvellous if that gorgeous day dawns when no one is counting, or fretting, about colour.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A new dawn is beginning.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
AT last, the sense is beginning to dawn across Europe.
The Sun (2016)
There is a wider issue at play here and it is beginning to dawn on people.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
We moved forward again just after dawn.
Oliver Poole BLACK KNIGHTS: On the Bloody Road to Baghdad (2003)
The box contains a bank of small lenses that track the sun from dawn to dusk.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
This was in the dawning of the age of computers.
Stanley Bing THROWING THE ELEPHANT (2002)
Humans have been spotting odd things in the sky from the dawn of time.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The dawn of a new internet age has begun.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The package left the museum before dawn one recent morning.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
This time the dawn looks far from false.
The Sun (2008)
The horror of the situation quickly dawned.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The fourth series of the political comedy ends as election day dawns.
The Sun (2015)
We both rose as the first greying of dawn reached the windows.
Baxter, Stephen Anti-Ice (1993)
And then it gradually begins to dawn on you.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Police spent an hour driving him around until he spotted his hotel just before dawn.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Man has lived in thrall to the sun since the dawn of civilisation.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Many more will soon be looking east to a new dawn.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
It was about half a mile across and was dumped by a glacier before the dawn of man.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The new age might be dawning.
Adam Nicolson GOD'S SECRETARIES: The Making of the King James Bible (2003)
Helicopters swooped across the dawn sky.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
False dawns have become something of the norm here this term but they cannot afford any more if they are to finish fourth.
The Sun (2010)
All of a sudden the light dawned upon this woman's mind.
Christianity Today (2000)
THE doctor looked into the dawn sky and told his driver to put his foot down.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Quotations
rosy-fingered dawnHomerIliad
For what human ill does not dawn seem to be an alleviation?Thornton WilderThe Bridge of San Luis Rey
In other languages
dawn
British English: dawn /dɔːn/ NOUN
Dawn is the time of day when light first appears in the sky, before the sun rises.
She woke at dawn.
American English: dawn
Arabic: فَجْر
Brazilian Portuguese: amanhecer
Chinese: 黎明
Croatian: zora
Czech: úsvit
Danish: daggry
Dutch: dageraad
European Spanish: amanecer
Finnish: aamunkoitto
French: aube
German: Dämmerung
Greek: αυγή
Italian: alba
Japanese: 夜明け
Korean: 새벽
Norwegian: daggry
Polish: świt
European Portuguese: amanhecer
Romanian: zori
Russian: рассвет
Latin American Spanish: amanecer
Swedish: gryning
Thai: รุ่งอรุณ
Turkish: şafak
Ukrainian: світанок
Vietnamese: bình minh
All related terms of 'dawn'
dawn on
If a fact or idea dawns on you, you realize it.
dawn raid
If police officers carry out a dawn raid , they go to someone's house very early in the morning to search it or arrest them.
dawn chorus
The dawn chorus is the singing of birds at dawn.
dawn patrol
a flight , esp. during the early days of military aviation , undertaken at dawn or early morning in order to reconnoiter enemy positions
dawn raider
a person or company that mounts a dawn raid
false dawn
zodiacal light appearing just before sunrise
dawn redwood
a deciduous conifer , Metasequoia glyptostroboides, native to China but planted in other regions as an ornamental tree: family Taxodiaceae. Until the 1940s it was known only as a fossil
a false dawn
a situation in which you think that something is finally going to improve but it does not
crack of dawn
the very instant that the sun rises
at the crack of dawn
If you say that someone does something at the crack of dawn , you are emphasizing that they do it very early in the morning .
the break of day/dawn
The break of day or the break of dawn is the time when it begins to grow light after the night .
Chinese translation of 'dawn'
dawn
(dɔːn)
n
(c/u)[of day]黎明 (límíng) (个(個), gè)
the dawn of sth某事的开(開)端(耑) (mǒushì de kāiduān)
vi
[day]开(開)始 (kāishǐ)
(liter)[period, age]开(開)始 (kāishǐ)
from dawn to dusk从(從)早到晚 (cóng zǎo dào wǎn)
1 (noun)
Definition
daybreak
She woke at dawn.
Synonyms
daybreak
He got up every morning before daybreak.
morning
I started to lose hope of ever seeing the morning.
sunrise
The rain began towards sunrise.
dawning
daylight
He returned shortly after daylight.
aurora (poetic)
crack of dawn
sunup
cockcrow
dayspring (poetic)
2 (noun)
Definition
the beginning of something
(literary)
the dawn of the radio age
Synonyms
beginning
Think of this as a new beginning.
start
She demanded to know why she had not been told from the start.
birth
the birth of popular democracy
rise
origin
theories about the origin of life
dawning
unfolding
emergence
the emergence of new democracies in Central Europe
outset
Decide at the outset what kind of learning programme will suit you best.
onset
This drug slows down the onset of the disease.
advent
genesis
The project had its genesis two years earlier.
inception
Since its inception, the company has produced 53 different designs.
1 (verb)
Definition
to begin to develop or appear
A new era seemed about to dawn.
Synonyms
begin
It began as a local festival.
start
The fire is thought to have started in an upstairs room.
open
They are now ready to open negotiations.
rise
develop
I developed a taste for the finer things in life.
emerge
He was waiting outside as she emerged from the building.
unfold
The outcome depends on conditions as well as how events unfold.
originate
The dish originated in North Africa.
2 (verb)
Definition
to begin to grow light after the night
The next day dawned.
Synonyms
grow light
break
She was saved by bushes which broke her fall.
brighten
Her tearful eyes brightened with interest.
lighten
Here's a little something to lighten your spirits.
phrasal verb
See dawn on or upon someone
related words
related adjectiveauroral
related phobiaeosophobia
Quotations
rosy-fingered dawn [Homer – Iliad]For what human ill does not dawn seem to be an alleviation? [Thornton Wilder – The Bridge of San Luis Rey]