Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb On or during the present or coming night.
- noun This night or the night of this day.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In the present night, or the night after the present day.
- During the preceding night; last night.
- noun The present night; the night after the present day.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb On this present or coming night.
- adverb obsolete On the last night past.
- noun The present or the coming night; the night after the present day.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The nighttime of the current day or date;
this night . - adverb During the current
day 's nighttime.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb during the night of the present day
- noun the present or immediately coming night
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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President Obama will deliver the second State of the Union speech of his term tonight at 9 p.m., a highly anticipated address that functions as the informal kickoff of the new congressional term.
5 things to watch for in the State of the Union Chris Cillizza 2011
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Of course the fact that I worked all night last night and work again tonight is a mere technicality.
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Of course the fact that I worked all night last night and work again tonight is a mere technicality.
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Of course the fact that I worked all night last night and work again tonight is a mere technicality.
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"Yep, I made a roast chicken again tonight" is not what I feel like writing, anyhow.
Rosemary Potato Pizza Lindy 2005
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"The one reason we didn't win tonight is that we got drawn into the kind of game they wanted to play," Maple Leafs center Alyn
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WOODRUFF: I don't think anybody has any doubt coming out of this speech what the president's intentions are when it comes to Iraq, when it comes to -- he didn't use the term tonight axis of evil, but he made it clear he's thought about the distinction between Iran, North Korea and Iraq.
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I saw a remarkable book about three years ago -- I wish I could remember the title tonight -- but it was a portrait of children who had grown up in the most unimaginable, difficult circumstances, who had done wonderfully well in life.
Remarks By President At Sons Of Italy Dinner ITY National Archives 1999
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The do- nothing Congress could be living up to the nickname tonight once again.
Crooks and Liars Heather 2011
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Long disagreed with Jericho, and said Swagger will defend the title tonight against Chris Jericho AND Edge, in a Triple-Threat Match.
PWTorch.com 2010
lampbane commented on the word tonight
A word frequently abused by weather reports, and as a consequence, I now despise this word.
I always check the weather in the morning so I know what to wear. Winter coat, windbreaker, or no coat at all? Sweater or t-shirt? Regular shoes, or boots? Should I bring an umbrella? A hat?
Now, they'll give you the current temperature, and that's fine, because if you're going out now you should prepare for the weather as it exists right now. But the tricky part is the weather later, when you come back. You know what it's like when you go to work, because the weather report will tell you and you can always look outside. But what about coming home?
The weather report will tell you the high and the low. "Today, the high will be 69 degrees." And today is simple enough. If it's the high and it's today, they're most likely referring to midday, between 12-2, when most people go to lunch. But then they'll say, "tonight, the low will be 42 degrees." Now, you could assume that tonight means the middle of the night, like after midnight. But then the same report will give you the overnight temperatures! And unless you work really late or hang out really late, that doesn't do you any good. And it doesn't resolve what "tonight" refers to.
Is it when the sun goes down? That would make it as early as 4pm in some places. Is it when the evening begins? But does the evening start at 6pm or 8pm?
"Tonight" certainly doesn't mean when I leave work. If I prepare for the low temperature, I'm often overdressed at 6pm. I thought maybe it was 8pm, but again, I've been overdressed. Now I check the hour-by-hour temperatures to see what it's like when I leave work, and you know when those "tonight" temperatures usually hit?
10pm.
According to Weather.com, anyway. Whether there's been a big meeting amongst meteorologists to determine the exact meaning of "today" and "tonight" and "overnight" I don't know, but I'm going to guess no, because they still can't get the weather report right.
This was all brought to you by the fact that in New York City today, the high is supposed to be 66 and the low 42.
I don't know exactly how one dresses for that. Guess I'm using layers.
December 3, 2009