nighttime - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• night time, night-time

From Middle English nyght tyme, nyȝttyme, equivalent to night +‎ time. Compare Dutch nachttijd, German Nachtzeit, Danish nattetid, Swedish nattetid. Compare also Middle English nyȝter tyme (“nighttime”), from Old Norse náttartími, nætrtími (“nighttime”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪtˌtaɪm/, [ˈnaɪʔtaɪm]

nighttime (countable and uncountable, plural nighttimes)

1. The hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise; the night.

   • 1986, R.E.M. (lyrics and music), “Hyena”, in Lifes Rich Pageant:

     Nighttime fell like the opening / In the final act of the beginning of time

   • 1996, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 50, number 7, page 52:

     Smith Barney, for example, goes so far as to shift the hours during which taxi rides home are expensable as nighttime lengthens and shortens, says Moszkowski.

• nightertale, nighttide; see also Thesaurus:nighttime

• day, daytime; see also Thesaurus:daytime

nighttime (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to nighttime; appropriate to the night.
2. Happening during the night.

• (pertaining to nighttime): night
• (happening during the night): night, nocturnal

• (antonym(s) of “pertaining to nighttime”): day, daytime
• (antonym(s) of “happening during the night”): daytime, diurnal