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Definition of twilight noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

twilight

noun
 
/ˈtwaɪlaɪt/
 
/ˈtwaɪlaɪt/
[uncountable]Idioms
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  1. the small amount of light or the period of time at the end of the day after the sun has gone down
    • in the twilight It was hard to see him clearly in the twilight.
    • at twilight We went for a walk along the beach at twilight.
    compare dusk
    Extra Examples
    • She stared into the gathering twilight.
    • They gazed up at the twilight sky.
    • in the twilight hour before dawn
    • These animals are most active during the hours of twilight around dawn and dusk.
    Topics Spacec2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • gathering
    twilight + noun
    • sky
    • hour
    • world
    preposition
    • at twilight
    • in the twilight
    • into the twilight
    phrases
    • in the twilight of your career, life, etc.
    See full entry
  2. the final stage of something when it becomes weaker or less important than it was
    • She was in the twilight of her career by then.
    • He spent his twilight years (= the last years of his life) living with his daughter in Bristol.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • gathering
    twilight + noun
    • sky
    • hour
    • world
    preposition
    • at twilight
    • in the twilight
    • into the twilight
    phrases
    • in the twilight of your career, life, etc.
    See full entry
  3. Word Originlate Middle English: from Old English twi- ‘two’ (used in an obscure sense in this compound) + the noun light.
Idioms
a/the twilight world (of something) | the twilight zone
  1. a state in which things are strange, mysterious or secret; a state that exists on the dividing line between two things
    • the twilight world of the occult
    • The dissidents lived in a twilight world of hushed voices and secret meetings.
    • the twilight zone between living and merely existing
    • They lived in the twilight zone on the fringes of society.
See twilight in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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