Link Centre Dictionary

twilight

twi·light

UK/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/ US/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/ fairly common
noun (3) adjective (1)

noun

1.

the time of day immediately following sunset

  • “he loved the twilight”
  • “they finished before the fall of night”
Synonyms
2.

the diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon but its rays are refracted by the atmosphere of the earth

3.

a condition of decline following successes

  • “in the twilight of the empire”

adjective

1.

lighted by or as if by twilight

  • “The dusky night rides down the sky/And ushers in the morn” Henry Fielding
  • “the twilight glow of the sky”
  • “a boat on a twilit river”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, equivalent to twi- (“double, half-”) + light, literally ‘second light, half-light’. Cognate to Scots twa licht, twylicht, twielicht (“twilight”), Low German twilecht, twelecht (“twilight”), Dutch tweelicht (“twilight, dusk”), German Zwielicht (“twilight, dusk”). Compare Old English twēone lēoht (“twilight”).

Phrases

  • twilight anesthesia
  • twilight birth
  • twilight industry
  • twilight language
  • Twilight of the Gods
  • twilight shift
  • twilight sleep
  • twilight years

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.