DAWN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dawn mean? 

• DAWN (noun)
  The noun DAWN has 3 senses:

1. the first light of day

2. the earliest period

3. an opening time period

  Familiarity information: DAWN used as a noun is uncommon.

• DAWN (verb)
  The verb DAWN has 3 senses:

1. become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

2. appear or develop

3. become light

  Familiarity information: DAWN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DAWN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The first light of day

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

aurora; break of day; break of the day; cockcrow; dawn; dawning; daybreak; dayspring; first light; morning; sunrise; sunup

Context example:

they talked until morning

Hypernyms ("dawn" is a kind of...):

hour; time of day (clock time)

Derivation:

dawn (become light)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The earliest period

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

dawn; morning

Context example:

the morning of the world

Hypernyms ("dawn" is a kind of...):

start (the beginning of anything)

Derivation:

dawn (appear or develop)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An opening time period

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

it was the dawn of the Roman Empire

Hypernyms ("dawn" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Domain usage:

figure; figure of speech; image; trope (language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense)

Derivation:

dawn (appear or develop)

• DAWN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dawn    ... he / she / it dawns   
Past simple: dawned   
Past participle: dawned   
-ing form: dawning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

click; come home; dawn; fall into place; get across; get through; penetrate; sink in

Context example:

she was penetrated with sorrow

Cause:

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Appear or develop

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

The age of computers had dawned

Hypernyms (to "dawn" is one way to...):

begin; start (have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

dawn (the earliest period)

dawn (an opening time period)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become light

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

It started to dawn, and we had to get up

Hypernyms (to "dawn" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

dawn; dawning (the first light of day)

 Context examples 

You'll stay over, an' send your books dawn by express, or else you're a damn fool.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

From comparing notes afterwards it was but an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then it dawned upon her that he was unconscious.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Your chart shows that a new day is dawning for you, and it is a better day than you’ve seen in a long time.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

When the day dawned, therefore, the boy put his fifty talers into his pocket, and went forth on the great highway, and continually said to himself: If I could but shudder!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Maud and I worked from dawn till dark, to the limit of our strength, so that when night came we crawled stiffly to bed and slept the animal-like sleep of exhaustion.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Thus, in fine, if he escape not on shore to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Day dawned; and I directed my steps towards the town.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The time period between dawn and noon.

(Morning, NCI Thesaurus)

The candles and the fire must have burned out hours before, and they had been sitting there in the dark until dawn had broken.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)