gloaming
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of gloaming
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gloming, Old English glōmung, derivative of glōm “twilight”
Explanation
A poetic word for "twilight," or the time of day immediately after the sun sets, is gloaming. The best thing about summer evenings is looking for twinkling fireflies in the gloaming. That romantic time of day when the light has mostly faded but it's not quite dark yet? You can call that the gloaming. This is a word with a strong Scottish heritage, rooted in the Old English word for "twilight," glōm. While it fell out of general use in English for centuries, Scots speakers kept it alive, leading to its re-adoption by English poets and novelists in the 1800s.
Vocabulary lists containing gloaming
The Hobbit
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Jane Eyre
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Beowulf
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The curious light of gloaming makes the landscape alien to us as color bleeds slowly away.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
I’m more of an evening than a morning person, so this arrangement makes viewing Mercury easier for me, and I’m always delighted when I can catch it in the gloaming.
From Scientific American • Aug. 17, 2023
This golden-hour gloaming lends the show a dreamy, fairy-tale quality.
From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2022
So imagine everyone’s delight when Bennifer reemerged from the gloaming after Lopez split with fiance Alex Rodriguez.
From Washington Post • Jul. 17, 2022
I had now scrambled outside the tent—and could see others running through the lanes between companies, screaming and making signs of utmost alarm in the gloaming.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
