nocturnal
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Belonging to or active during the night.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nahkturnuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nɑkˈtɝnəl
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
Belonging to or active during the night
“Nocturnal animals are active at night.”
of a personcreaturegroupor species
Primarily active during the night.
of an occurrence
Taking place at night, nightly.
noun
A person or creature that is active at night.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Belonging to or active during the night
Used this way, nocturnal is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Nocturnal animals are active at night.”
- 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 nocturnal
- “Nocturnal animals are active at night.”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.
Ejaculation during sleep (usually during a dream).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.