noon

noun

ˈnün 

1

: midday

specifically : 12 o'clock at midday

2

archaic : midnight

—used chiefly in the phrase noon of night

3

: the highest point

Synonyms

• midday

Examples of noon in a Sentence

The party will take place from noon to 4 p.m.

He showed up at precisely 12 noon.

Recent Examples on the Web

At around noon, the news broke that Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and the deputy leader of the Labour Party, had resigned from Starmer’s Cabinet. —Sam Knight, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2025

He was scheduled to speak at Charlie Kirk's memorial service at noon Arizona time, according to the schedule. —Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 21 Sep. 2025

Milwaukee-area network television stations are not scheduled to stream the service in full; FOX6 will air the Green Bay Packers-Cleveland Browns game at noon, and CBS58 will broadcast the Minnesota Vikings-Cincinnati Bengals game. —Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 21 Sep. 2025

Smith was booked into the Lonoke County jail on the felony charge, then released around noon Friday, according to an online inmate roster. —Rafael Escalera Montoto, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English nōn ninth hour from sunrise, from Latin nona, from feminine of nonus ninth; akin to Latin novem nine — more at nine

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing noon

• high noon
• morning, noon, and night
• pre-noon

Rhymes for noon

• boon
• brune
• coon
• croon
• dune
• goon
• hewn
• hoon
• june
• loon
• moon
• poon

Kids Definition

noon

noun

ˈnün 

: the middle of the day : 12 o'clock in the daytime

noon adjective

Etymology

Old English nōn "ninth hour from sunrise," derived from Latin nona, a feminine form of nonus "ninth," from novem "nine"

Word Origin

Noon has not always meant "12 o'clock in the daytime." In the ancient Roman way of keeping track of time, the hours of the day were counted from sunrise to sunset. The ninth hour of their day (about 3 p.m. nowadays) was called nona, Latin for "ninth." In the early period of English, the word was borrowed as nōn, also referring to the ninth hour after sunrise. By the 14th century, however, the word came to be used for midday, 12 o'clock, as we use it today.