twilight

Pluraltwilights (some meanings)

Formstwilights, twilighting, twilit

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The period just before sunrise or, especially, just after sunset, when the sky is still partly lit; technically, the time when the sun is less than 18 degrees below the horizon.

   The hikers reached the summit just as twilight settled over the valley.

   In twilight the streetlights flicker on while the western sky still glows.

   UsageAs a time, usually without an article: at twilight, it was twilight, like at dusk.

   Similardusk, nightfall

   Note

   Walter Besant's novel The Ivory Gate uses it this way: at twilight in the summer, the mice come out. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Walter Besant wrote the novel The Ivory Gate. gutenberg.org
   • The passage is narration and reads: “At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers, and at that hour the mice come out.” The omitted words need an ellipsis. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   noununcountable

   Soft, dim light, especially the light in the sky just before sunrise or after sunset, when the sun's rays are scattered by the atmosphere.

   A pale twilight lingered over the hills well after the sun had dropped.

   The photographer loved the gentle twilight that bathed the canyon before dawn.

   UsageCommon with in: in the twilight, in the fading twilight.

   Similarhalf-light

   Note

   It is the glow you see by, as when you can just make out a face in the twilight. The time of day is when that glow lasts.

3. 3
   in-between stagenounfigurativelyusually singular

   A period of decline, especially the last stage of something; also, a dim, in-between state in which things are only half clear.

   The empire entered its twilight, its power slowly slipping away.

   He spent his final years in a gentle twilight of half-remembered dreams.

   UsageUsually the twilight of + a noun: the twilight of a career, the twilight of an empire.

   Similardecline, sunset, evening, autumn, ebb

   Oppositedawn, heyday, prime

   Note

   Figurative twilight looks two ways. Most often it means a decline, as in the twilight of one's life, where the light is going and will not return. It can also mean a blend that is neither one thing nor the other. Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son gives Edith "the very twilight of a smile," its light and darkness mingled. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Charles Dickens wrote Dombey and Son. gutenberg.org
   • The narrator describes Edith's smile as "the very twilight of a smile," explicitly blending light and darkness. gutenberg.org
4. 4
   adjective

   Resembling or relating to twilight; faintly lit, dim, or obscure.

   The painting captured a twilight landscape, all soft and dim.

   Faint twilight shadows stretched across the empty courtyard.

   Similardim, dusky, shadowy, crepuscular

   Oppositebright, sunlit

5. 5
   ocean layeradjective

   Of the ocean's middle layer, lying between the sunlit upper zone and the dark depths, where very little light reaches.

   Many bioluminescent creatures inhabit the twilight zone of the open ocean.

   Researchers sampled fish from the twilight layer where sunlight barely reaches.

   UsageMost often in the phrase twilight zone.

   Similarmesopelagic

   Note

   Oceanographers use it as the plain-English name for the mesopelagic layer, and it almost always appears in the phrase twilight zone. The layer lies roughly 200 to 1,000 meters down. Mesopelagic is the term for formal scientific prose, and twilight is its everyday counterpart. The two name the same waters. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Oceanographers call the mesopelagic layer the twilight zone; both names refer to the same waters. noaa.gov
   • The layer extends approximately 200 to 1,000 meters below the ocean surface. whoi.edu

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