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Synonyms

dusk

1 American  
[duhsk] / dʌsk /

noun

  1. the state or period of partial darkness between day and night; the dark part of twilight.

  2. partial darkness; shade; gloom.

    She was barely visible in the dusk of the room.
dusk 2 American  
[duhsk] / dʌsk /

adjective

  1. tending to darkness; dark.

verb (used with or without object)

  1. to make or become dusk; darken.

dusk British  
/ dʌsk /

noun

  1. twilight or the darker part of twilight

  2. poetic gloom; shade

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. poetic shady; gloomy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. poetic to make or become dark

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • duskish adjective

Etymology

Origin of dusk1

First recorded in 1615–25; back formation from dusky

Origin of dusk2

before 1000; Middle English duske (adj.), dusken (v.); metathetic alteration of Old English dox dusky, doxian to turn dark; cognate with L. fuscus dark

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.