different between crepuscular vs twilight

English

Etymology

From Latin crepusculum +? -ar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k???p?skj?l?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k???p?skj?l??/

Adjective

crepuscular (comparative more crepuscular, superlative most crepuscular)

1. Of or resembling twilight; dim.
2. (zoology) Active at or around dusk, dawn or twilight.
   • 1999, J. Anne Helgren, Communicating with Your Cat, page 51, ?ISBN

     That's why cats are crepuscular — most active at dawn and dusk — because mice and rats forage for food during these hours when fewer of their natural enemies are around.

Synonyms

• twilightish

Coordinate terms

• diurnal
• nocturnal

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Catalan

Adjective

crepuscular (masculine and feminine plural crepusculars)

1. crepuscular

Related terms

• crepuscle

Galician

Adjective

crepuscular m or f (plural crepusculares)

1. crepuscular

Related terms

• crepúsculo

Portuguese

Adjective

crepuscular m or f (plural crepusculares, not comparable)

1. crepuscular

Related terms

• crepúsculo

Romanian

Etymology

From French crépusculaire.

Adjective

crepuscular m or n (feminine singular crepuscular?, masculine plural crepusculari, feminine and neuter plural crepusculare)

1. crepuscular

Declension

Related terms

• crepuscul

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?epusku?la?/, [k?e.pus.ku?la?]

Adjective

crepuscular (plural crepusculares)

1. crepuscular

Related terms

• crepúsculo

Further reading

• “crepuscular” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, equivalent to twi- (“double, half-”) +? light, literally ‘second light, half-light’. Cognate to Scots twa licht, twylicht, twielicht (“twilight”), Low German twilecht, twelecht (“twilight”), Dutch tweelicht (“twilight, dusk”), German Zwielicht (“twilight, dusk”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?twa?la?t/

Noun

twilight (countable and uncountable, plural twilights)

1. The soft light in the sky seen before the rising and (especially) after the setting of the sun, occasioned by the illumination of the earth’s atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and their reflection on the earth.

2. The time when this light is visible; the period between daylight and darkness.

   • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

3. (astronomy) The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.
4. Any faint light through which something is seen; an in-between or fading condition.
   • , Book IV, Chapter XIV

     The twilight […] of probability.

Synonyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): blue hour, gloaming; see also Thesaurus:twilight

Hyponyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): cockcrow, first light / evenfall, eventide; see also Thesaurus:dawn and Thesaurus:dusk

Hypernyms

• light

Hyponyms

• astronomical twilight
• civil twilight
• nautical twilight

Coordinate terms

• dawn (end of ~ in the morning)
• dusk (end of ~ in the evening)
• evening
• golden hour
• nightfall
• sundown

Derived terms

• twilight industry
• twilightish
• Twilight of the Gods
• twilight shift
• twilighty
• twilight years
• twilight zone
• twilit

Translations

Adjective

twilight (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.

See also

• crepuscular

Verb

twilight (third-person singular simple present twilights, present participle twilighting, simple past and past participle twilit or twilighted)

1. (transitive, poetic) To illuminate faintly.