nocturnal

adjective

noc·​tur·​nal näk-ˈtər-nᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or occurring in the night

a nocturnal journey

nocturnal activities

2

: active at night

a nocturnal predator

nocturnal insects, such as mosquitoes

nocturnally

näk-ˈtər-nᵊl-ē 

adverb

Synonyms

• night
• nightly
• nighttime

Examples of nocturnal in a Sentence

he bought a new telescope so he could pursue his favorite nocturnal hobby of astronomy

Recent Examples on the Web

Their often nocturnal shifts, working while the city slept to ensure that daily newspapers would arrive each morning, meant missing everything from weddings to school plays. —Vincent Alban, Chicago Tribune, 19 May 2024

The three-day festival, produced by Insomniac Events, famously begins each day at sunset and then goes until dawn, with performances from several hundred DJs filling the nocturnal hours in between. —Katie Bain, Billboard, 17 May 2024

In the middle, a grid of six square images show animals, including a swan and a dog, hovering above a nocturnal mountainous landscape or a mosque. —Zoe Ruffner Camille Sojit Pejcha Zoe Ruffner Kyle Beechey Osman Can Yerebakan Samuel Rutter, New York Times, 16 May 2024

As nocturnal creatures, palo verde beetles are most active during the evening and nighttime hours, when they may be seen flying around and mating near palo verde trees and other host plants. —Tiffany Acosta, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2024

And because each of these stories takes place in the dead of night, Swift and Jack Antonoff have constructed a nocturnal aesthetic for Midnights, full of bass-heavy midtempo beats and heavily reverbed synths. —Al Shipley, SPIN, 5 May 2024

The artwork, which juxtaposes a nocturnal lamplit street with a serene daylit sky, is one of the most celebrated and enigmatic images in 20th-century art. —Alex Vadukul, New York Times, 3 May 2024

The blossom's smell attracts nocturnal pollinators, including bats and moths. —Laura Daniella Sepulveda, The Arizona Republic, 3 May 2024

The scientists found that the ants' nocturnal rest phase and daily activity was suppressed ahead of seismic activity, and their standard daily routine did not resume until the next day. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 2 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French & Late Latin; Anglo-French nocturnel, borrowed from Late Latin nocturnālis "for night use," from Latin nocturnus "of or occurring at night" (from noct-, nox night entry 1 + -urnus, temporal suffix, as in diurnus "of the day") + -ālis -al entry 1 — more at journal

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

nocturnal

adjective

noc·​tur·​nal näk-ˈtərn-ᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or occurring in the night

a nocturnal journey

2

: active at night

nocturnal insects

nocturnally

-ᵊl-ē 

adverb

Etymology

from early French nocturnal, nocturnel or Latin nocturnalis, both meaning "nocturnal," derived from earlier Latin noct-, nox "night" — related to equinox

Medical Definition

nocturnal

adjective

noc·​tur·​nal näk-ˈtərn-ᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or occurring at night

nocturnal myoclonus

2

: characterized by nocturnal activity

a nocturnal form of filariasis