Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or occurring in the night.
- adjective Botany Opening at night. Used of flowers.
- adjective Zoology Most active at night.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to the night; belonging to the night; used, done, or occurring at night: as, nocturnal cold; a nocturnal visit: opposed to diurnal.
- Of or pertaining to a nocturn.
- In zoology, active by night: as, nocturnal lepidopter.
- Syn. 1 and See
nightly .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; ; -- opposed to
diurnal . - adjective Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; ; -- of animals.
- noun An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the stars, etc., at sea.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective of a person, creature Primarily active during the
night . - adjective of an occurrence Taking place at night.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective belonging to or active during the night
- adjective of or relating to or occurring in the night
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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She'd been researching what she called "nocturnal pressing spirit attacks," or what scientific literature called sleep paralysis.
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Neighbors ... said they wouldn't rest until the large black snake, which appears to be nocturnal, is no longer free.
Boing Boing 2007
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“The use of unguents and eye-powders and the dust of the road and the undesigned swallowing of saliva and the emission of seed in nocturnal pollution or at the sight of a strange woman and blooding and cupping; none of these things vitiates the fast.”
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Madame Delmare had all the superstitions of a nervous, sickly Creole; certain nocturnal sounds, certain phases of the moon were to her unfailing presages of specific events, of impending misfortunes, and the night spoke to that dreamy, melancholy creature a language full of mysteries and phantoms which she alone could understand and translate according to her fears and her sufferings.
Indiana 1900
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Both Sir Heinz Schorlin and Jungfrau Elizabeth Ortlieb kept their word and joined each other here -- to their extreme amazement, I should suppose, as to my knowledge they never met before -- to receive me, and thus had an interview which, however loudly they may contradict it, I call a nocturnal meeting.
In the Fire of the Forge — Complete Georg Ebers 1867
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Elizabeth Ortlieb kept their word and joined each other here -- to their extreme amazement, I should suppose, as to my knowledge they never met before -- to receive me, and thus had an interview which, however loudly they may contradict it, I call a nocturnal meeting.
In the Fire of the Forge — Volume 02 Georg Ebers 1867
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Ortlieb kept their word and joined each other here -- to their extreme amazement, I should suppose, as to my knowledge they never met before -- to receive me, and thus had an interview which, however loudly they may contradict it, I call a nocturnal meeting.
Complete Project Gutenberg Georg Ebers Works Georg Ebers 1867
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It was not just the pain in his arthritic knees, which he ruefully referred to as his nocturnal visitor, that kept Fr.
I’ll Walk Alone Mary Higgins Clark 2011
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A little more than two weeks ago, after 20 years of keeping dozens of hives on his nearly four acres on Plain Road, Harp suffered the first of what apiarists call a nocturnal "bear hit."
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A little more than two weeks ago, after 20 years of keeping dozens of hives on his nearly four acres on Plain Road, Harp suffered the first of what apiarists call a nocturnal "bear hit."
Lance Mannion: 2010
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