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overnight

Occurring between dusk and dawn.

əʊvə(ɹ)ˈnaɪtCurrent145 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026+ Add a definition
🗺️ Regional & Other
3 definitions
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Seen in the wild
10 citations · last seen May 2026

Seen in the wild

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#1·Apr 27, 2026

Occurring between dusk and dawn.

The overnight ferry docked at 10 a.m.
Heard in the wild
  • “Lewis and his brother liked to do day hikes to nearby villages: walk 10 miles to the next pub, stay overnight, walk home. They invited Tolkien once, and the man wouldn't stop tromping into the treeline to point out interesting plants. Annoying! Uninvited!”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “🌀 The week no indie dev talks about: - App review tanks from 4.6 to 3.9 overnight - Complaint emails pile up faster than you can reply - An unexpected bill lands - The washing machine breaks - The kids need new shoes - Google Play flags your app for a policy update”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Huh no overnight counting at the election and then all day coverage on Friday. I guess it's an election day sesh rather than an election all nighter then”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Facebook changed the rules. 5 seconds now qualifies a view — not 3. Creators who didn't adapt lost 90% of their revenue overnight. Check your qualified view rate. Fix the format. Stay paid. ✅”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “I am 41. I live with my parents (but only for a couple months) and I'm not allowed to have "overnight company" They get visibly uncomfortable when their married kids stay over with their spouses, too. They won't say anything though.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
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#2·Apr 27, 2026

During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.

Let it run overnight and we'll check on it in the morning.
Origin: Inherited from , from , equivalent to . Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently. Compare also , , ,. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
For parents

"overnight" means: During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.

For ESL learners

"overnight" means: During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.

Heard in the wild
  • “The four-day week won’t happen overnight, but it could transform how we live and work. It is not just a workplace benefit. It is a potential tool to improve wellbeing, support families and rethink how work is distributed in society. theconversation.com/the-four-day...”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “That was a long stream! Thank you to everyone that managed to show up! I'm in a funky time zone and got the overnight schedule so I really appreciate it! That was fun!”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Good morning. Patches of blue today, but still cool from the overnight low of 1. #photooftheday is an archive shot walking in the #CairngormsNationalPark. Happy Tuesday. Have a good one. #scotland #mountains”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Backed by Admirals determined to have their vanity project, who then couldn’t choose between BAES and Thales, doubling the build price overnight.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
  • “Russian forces killed two Ukrainian rescuers and wounded dozens more in a deliberate repeated strike on emergency workers responding to an initial attack on a gas production facility in Poltava Oblast overnight, regional authorities and Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported.”

    — Bluesky· May 2026
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#3·Apr 27, 2026

(figurative) In a very short (but unspecified) amount of time.

They delivered the package overnight.
Cluster: intensifier
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