variants
or less commonly pre-dawn
: existing or occurring before dawn
a predawn attack
the predawn hours
… the gigantic telescope started scanning the predawn sky.—
Howard Blum
Howard Blum
predawn
noun
or less commonly pre-dawn
plural predawns also pre-dawns
The most bone-chilling predawns create the sharpest sunrises.
—Christine Schultz
Christine Schultz
… stepping out into the quiet pre-dawn, closing the door.
—Bryan Burrough
Bryan Burrough
Examples of predawn in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Venus transitions to the morning sky in April, this time reappearing as a magnificent predawn object for early spring.
—Joe Rao, Space.com, 31 Dec. 2024
The federal charges are the latest development in a case that has mesmerized Americans in the weeks since the predawn killing of Mr. Thompson on Dec. 4.
—Chelsia Rose Marcius, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2024
The underwater life is still with her, in her thirties: the smell of chlorine, nylon straps digging into shoulders, hair clumped into icicles after predawn workouts in a Toronto suburb.
—The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2024
The complaint goes on to incorporate images that purportedly show the shooter leaving the hostel at 5:35 a.m. on Dec. 4 and arriving near the murder scene in the predawn hour before the shooting.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 19 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for predawn 
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Joe Rao, Space.com, 31 Dec. 2024
The federal charges are the latest development in a case that has mesmerized Americans in the weeks since the predawn killing of Mr. Thompson on Dec. 4.
—Chelsia Rose Marcius, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2024
The underwater life is still with her, in her thirties: the smell of chlorine, nylon straps digging into shoulders, hair clumped into icicles after predawn workouts in a Toronto suburb.
—The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2024
The complaint goes on to incorporate images that purportedly show the shooter leaving the hostel at 5:35 a.m. on Dec. 4 and arriving near the murder scene in the predawn hour before the shooting.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 19 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for predawn
Dictionary Entries Near predawn
Cite this Entry
“Predawn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predawn. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.
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