nightfall means the close of the day; the coming of night. It carries an Arena rating of 1388, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, nightfall ranks #704 of 25,264 for Qualifying, #2,317 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,382 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words.
nightfall is pronounced /ˈnaɪt.fɔl/.
Why “nightfall” is a great word
Nightfall is the decisive event of the day's end, the moment daylight yields and night begins its dominion. From night + fall, modeled on patterns like 'dewfall,' the word first entered recorded use between 1605 and 1615. Unlike 'dusk,' which lingers on the quality of fading light, or 'twilight,' which names the ethereal, intermediary glow, nightfall is the threshold-crossing itself—the arrival. It is the last bruise of color draining from the western sky, the simultaneous lighting of a hundred streetlamps along an avenue, and the sudden, collective silence of diurnal birds; the day's final act of surrender, observed.
Etymology
From night + fall. Cf. dewfall.
noun
- The close of the day; the coming of night.“at nightfall”
- Nocturnal emission.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.