DictionaryAI

autumn

SayAW-tuhm/ˈɔtəm//ˈɔːtəm/

Pluralautumns

5 meanings of autumn

Practice

  1. 1
    seasonnouncountable or uncountable
    The third of the four seasons, when deciduous trees shed their leaves and temperatures and daylight decline, spanning September through November in the Northern Hemisphere and March through May in the Southern.

    Autumn brought cooler mornings and the first frost to the valley.

    Farmers harvest most of their crops during autumn.

    UsageBoth in autumn and in the autumn are fine, as are autumn leaves and this autumn. Fall names the same season.

    Similarfall

    Note

    Shakespeare spells it Autumne in A Midsommer Nights Dreame and calls it "childing," the fruitful season.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  2. 2
    later yearsnounusually singular
    The period in which a person or thing has moved past its prime and begun a gradual decline.

    Like a fire that has burned its brightest and settled into glowing embers.

    She wrote her finest poems in the autumn of her life.

    By the 1970s the once-great studio was clearly in its autumn.

    UsageUsually with an owner: the autumn of her life, in its autumn. Also autumn years.

    Similardecline

    Note

    The season becomes a stage of decline, extended from the season itself to a person, a movement or a world order. Dickens in Bleak House sets it against heyday: Lady Dedlock's beauty, if no longer at its height, "is not yet in its autumn." That pairing places autumn beyond the prime, once decline has truly begun.

  3. 3
    color typenouncountable
    In color analysis, a person with relatively dark hair and a warm skin tone, regarded as best suited to certain colors in clothing.

    She's an autumn, which is why that mustard coat suits her so well.

    The consultant classified him as an autumn and steered him toward warm, muted shades.

    UsageUsed with an: she is an autumn.

    Note

    The label rests on two features taken together, relatively dark hair and a warm skin tone, and its purpose is practical, steering clothing choices. Outside a conversation about dressing or color, the word would be read as the season, so it needs that setting to be understood.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbrare
    To undergo the changes associated with the third season (leaves changing color and falling) or to cause something to do so.
    She turns off towards the river, where the lawns lie autumned on the banks between the frayed golden willow branches.
    2003, Antjie Krog, A Change of Tongue
  2. 5
    verbrare
    To pass the third season of the year residing in a particular place.
    I have summered and autumned (fallen?) on the North Fork for forty-two years.
    1980, Alistair Cooke, The Americans: Letters from America on Our Life and Times

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of autumn apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word came into Middle English as "autumpne" from Old and Middle French "automne", which came from Latin "autumnus". Some of the verb senses come from Latin "autumnāre".

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts