Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or like twilight; dim.
- adjective Active primarily at dawn or dusk or both. Used of animals.
- adjective Occurring at dawn or dusk or both:
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to or resembling twilight; glimmering.
- In zoology, flying or appearing in the twilight or evening, or before sunrise: as, the crepuscular or nocturnal Lepidoptera.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Pertaining to twilight; glimmering; hence, imperfectly clear or luminous.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Flying in the twilight or evening, or before sunrise; -- said certain birds and insects.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or resembling
twilight ;dim - adjective zoology
active at or arounddusk ,dawn ortwilight
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective like twilight; dim
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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As I made a mental note of Hitchens' casual use of the word "crepuscular," the Maryland professor grumbled in my direction.
Sean Carman: Saint Christopher Sean Carman 2011
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As I made a mental note of Hitchens' casual use of the word "crepuscular," the Maryland professor grumbled in my direction.
Sean Carman: Saint Christopher Sean Carman 2011
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As I made a mental note of Hitchens' casual use of the word "crepuscular," the Maryland professor grumbled in my direction.
Sean Carman: Saint Christopher Sean Carman 2011
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As I made a mental note of Hitchens' casual use of the word "crepuscular," the Maryland professor grumbled in my direction.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Sean Carman 2011
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Garrett, does the word crepuscular do anything for you?
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You might call it a dreamscape, but they say no, it's "crepuscular" - it's the slippery moment just after you wake up, between sleep and wakefulness.
NPR Topics: News 2011
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Boars are crepuscular, that is they forage from dusk until dawn and they are the only hoofed animals known to dig burrows.
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Maybe he was trying to find that "crepuscular" place where left and right brain coexist in a harmonious union.
Spark plugs and transmissions Matthew Guerrieri 2008
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People view Mike Nelson's installation which turns the British Pavilion into a 'disorienting, dusty, crepuscular world full of labyrinthine passages'.
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Nelson's already much talked-about installation, which opens to the public this Saturday, takes the visitor through the front door of the elegant, colonnaded 19th-century former tearoom that forms Britain's official pavilion and plunges them into a disorienting, dusty, crepuscular world full of labyrinthine passages, false walls and shoulder-hunchingly low ceilings.
emily_morine commented on the word crepuscular
I'm not sure whether I love crepuscular or hate it. I love that there's a word for this concept, but the actual word itself seems more descriptive of an infected, peeling scab.
December 8, 2006
hanru commented on the word crepuscular
Agreed. Twilight deserves a more pleasant-sounding word...
December 9, 2006
billifer commented on the word crepuscular
It reminds me of seafood. Crepuscular... crustacean.... Same thing. :)
December 22, 2006
tree commented on the word crepuscular
odd, i just wrote this as a comment to someone on livejournal: the word crepuscular brings to mind rabbits, so for me it's a lovely, faintly sad word - sad because my bunnies have passed. it makes me think of twitching noses and shadows.
December 27, 2006
valse commented on the word crepuscular
I do agree this is a strange word...but it matches a pretty strange time of day. That beautiful, eerie glow and the darkness slowly creeping up. Of course, it can also be used to describe insects and other animals that come out around that time...
January 4, 2007
beee commented on the word crepuscular
I like this word. It is the inspiration for the last name of the heroine of "Dos Palabras," a short story by Isabel Allende. In Spanish it sounds quite romantic, but yes, I have to agree that the English pronunciation is less agreeable.
February 16, 2007
polymorph commented on the word crepuscular
One theory of the evolution of the human brain is that our distant crepuscular ancestors needed sharp vision to avoid predators. This lead to increased brain capacity necessary to process the higher image resolution that their enlarged optic nerve was delivering (I imagine a wide-eyed lemur-like creature constantly scanning its environment searching for danger in the twilight).
April 8, 2007
samoritan commented on the word crepuscular
In a strongly-worked essay on gun violence, Harlan Ellison once referred to Ronald Reagan as a "crepuscular old fart".
May 17, 2007
npydyuan commented on the word crepuscular
A fine feature of "crepuscular" is its ability to signify dusk OR dawn. The in-between times, the secret times....
September 16, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word crepuscular
I like this word, but it always reminds me of cells--like "corpuscle" or "muscular"--or even "testicular."
If that ruins it for anyone, I'm sorryish. ;)
October 23, 2007
emmy commented on the word crepuscular
Crepuscular Dawn by Paul Virilio. Read it.
February 23, 2008
tinevalen commented on the word crepuscular
crepuscular...something akin to muscular, yet a bit crusty and alien...
tinevalen
November 11, 2008
elgiad007 commented on the word crepuscular
Before learning the correct pronunciation, this word reminded me of a husky crepe.
November 11, 2008
sangeevj commented on the word crepuscular
twilight
May 7, 2009
oroboros commented on the word crepuscular
Gloaming
August 6, 2009
jmjarmstrong commented on the word crepuscular
JM is at his crepuscular best when the edges of objects become indistinct.
March 10, 2010
magma commented on the word crepuscular
“…Our life is but the crepuscular memory, or crepuscular reflection, doubtlessly distorted and mutilated, of an irrecoverable process.” - Jorge Luis Borges
March 26, 2010
Dan337 commented on the word crepuscular
See also “crepuscle”, “crepuscular arch”, “crepuscular ray”, “crepuscule”, “crepusculine”, “crepusculous”, and “crepusculum”.
January 26, 2011
TankHughes commented on the word crepuscular
One morning, my brother brought home a box of Krispy Kreme donuts, and left them on the kitchen table.
My mother and I sat at the table and looked out the window, talking about birds and how smart crows and ravens are, and how when I see a group of them around sunset, I think of the word crepuscular because they are active at dusk.
My mother is a visual learner so I wrote the word down for her to see. We finished talking, and left the room.
My brother came back and saw the note on the table. He thought it was a comment card for the donuts. He assumed it was a compliment, as in "Thank you for the donuts. They were very... crepuscular."
Now crepuscular makes me think of corvids and donuts.
October 8, 2015
bilby commented on the word crepuscular
TankHughes for the anecdonut.
October 13, 2015