Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Twilight.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See crepuscle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Twilight.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the time of day immediately following sunset

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin crepusculum, from creper, dark.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French crepuscule, from Latin crepusculum.

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Examples

  • Along the way, Sheinkin has fun lobbing insanely difficult and obscure words (such as crepuscule, phylactery and elangues) into her young contestants 'laps like live grenades.

    The Orange County Register - News Headlines : Top Stories By ERIC MARCHESE 2010

  • Along the way, Sheinkin has fun lobbing insanely difficult and obscure words (such as crepuscule, phylactery and elangues) into her young contestants 'laps like live grenades.

    The Orange County Register - News Headlines : Top Stories 2010

  • Fresh off Broadway ... six quirky students come face-to-face with all their insecurities and puberty while under pressure to spell words like "crepuscule" correctly.

    BroadwayWorld.com Featured Content 2010

  • On winter dusks, robin ticks and wren flourishes made a percussive crepuscule for the settling wood.

    A Year on the Wing TIM DEE 2009

  • I try to avoid abstract words, or poetical words, you know, like crepuscule, for example.

    Their Way With Words 2008

  • Certainly, it would make her life far more attractive in the crepuscule of life, but that is not to be.

    CNN Transcript Feb 14, 2002 2002

  • An undulating vapor of molten metal seemed pouring down on the roofs of the town; and in the descending crepuscule yellow and violet rays flashed through a trembling and iridescent glow.

    Stories by Foreign Authors: Italian Various

  • Mouston and I had gone for a ramble in the park -- it's gorgeous there in the _crepuscule_ -- and we were quite close to the Hermitage.

    The Shadow of the East

  • 'But really,' asked Jimbo, 'it's only -- _crepuscule, comme ca, _ isn't it?'

    A Prisoner in Fairyland Algernon Blackwood 1910

  • The elder man turned to the window, and through the grey curtain of crepuscule recognised the rakish topsail schooner that had excited

    The Light of Scarthey Egerton Castle 1889

Comments

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  • This word has the dubious distinction of being used in Scientology matériel like so:

    "Here is an example: 'It was found that when the crepuscule arrived the children were quieter and when it was not present, they were much livelier.' What happens is you think you do not understand the whole idea, but the inability to understand comes entirely from the one word you could not define, crepuscule, which means twilight or darkness."

    There you have it, from L. Ron Hubbard himself.

    December 12, 2006

  • Perhaps the most well-known popular usage of this word occurs in the title “Crepuscule with Nellie”.

    January 26, 2011

  • See also “crepuscle”, “crepuscular”, “crepuscular arch”, “crepuscular ray”, “crepusculine”, “crepusculous”, and “crepusculum”.

    January 26, 2011

  • The heat of the day can be cruel.

    We swelter and yearn to be cool,

    To sip a cold drink

    And watch the sun sink

    And soak in the sweet crepuscule.

    August 4, 2016