diurnal
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Related to happiness felt in a secure relationship.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dyurnuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
daɪˈɝnəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or belonging to or active during the day
“Diurnal animals are active during the day.”
Happening or occurring during daylight, or primarily active during that time.
Having a daily cycle that is completed every 24 hours, usually referring to tasks, processes, tides, or sunrise to sunset; circadian.
noun
A flower that opens only in the day.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or belonging to or active during the day
Used this way, diurnal is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Diurnal animals are active during the day.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use diurnal
- “Diurnal animals are active during the day.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The parallax of a celestial body using two points on the surface of the earth as the earth rotates.
Fluctuations that occur during each day.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: of or belonging to or active during the day
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.