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

• high noon
• lunch time
• midday
• noonday
• noontide
• noontime

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

Half-hour tours are scheduled for noon, 1:30 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3 p.m., according to the museum’s Facebook page. —Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2025

The 24-year-old hopped on a noon flight to Los Angeles and to the final stage of finishing school. —Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 15 May 2025

On November 17, 2023, at about noon Pacific time, Sutskever fired Altman on a Google Meet with the three independent board members. —Karen Hao, The Atlantic, 15 May 2025

Green Bay has four straight noon games between Weeks 11-14, then has two prime time games in Weeks 15-16. —Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 15 May 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.