overnight
adverb · adjective · verb · noun
Simple meaning
During or for the length of one night.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ohvernytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈoʊvɚˈnaɪt
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.
adverb
During or for the length of one night
During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.
Happening in a short time or with great speed
“These solutions cannot be found overnight!”
figurative
In a very short (but unspecified) amount of time.
adjective
Complete before the next morning.
Occurring between dusk and dawn.
For which participants stay overnight.
verb
transitiveus
To send something for delivery the next day.
intransitive
To stay overnight; to spend the night.
noun
An overnight stay, especially in a hotel or other lodging facility.
An item delivered or completed overnight.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: During or for the length of one night
Used this way, overnight is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately 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 overnight
- “These solutions cannot be found overnight!”adverb
- “The fish marinates overnight.”adverb
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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.
A small traveling bag to carry clothing and accessories for staying overnight.
A small traveling bag to carry clothing and accessories for staying overnight.
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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.