different between sundown vs twilight

English

Etymology

sun +? down

Pronunciation

Noun

sundown (countable and uncountable, plural sundowns)

1. (US) Sunset.

2. (countable) A hat with a wide brim to shade the eyes from sunlight.

Synonyms

• dusk, mirkning, nightfall; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Translations

Verb

sundown (third-person singular simple present sundowns, present participle sundowning, simple past and past participle sundowned)

1. (intransitive) to experience an episode or an onset of some detrimental mental condition like agitation, anxiety, hallucination or dementia, daily at nightfall.
   • 2009, Kay Cameron, Tim Rhodus, Life With God 101

     "She also “sundowned”, and someone had to keep an eye on her 24-7."

Derived terms

• sundowner
• sundowning
• sundown town

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.