dusk
dusk — noun
1. the time in the evening when daylight fades and colours in the sky gradually dis
the time in the evening when daylight fades and colours in the sky gradually disappear, just before night begins.
Putri loved walking home at dusk, when the sky glowed orange and purple.
The children were told to be inside by dusk, before the streets grew completely dark.
collocation: by dusk
In December, dusk arrives before five o'clock in northern countries like Finland.
Mizuki sat on the porch and watched the colours of dusk spread across the fields.
From dawn to dusk, Rohan worked in the fields without taking a single break.
- twilight
more poetic and literary; can refer to either the morning or evening period between light and dark, while dusk is specifically evening
- nightfall
focuses on the moment when night begins, whereas dusk emphasises the gradual fading period
- sundown
more informal and American; often refers to the exact moment of sunset rather than the following dim period
- dawn
the time in the morning when light first appears, opposite end of the day
文法句型
at dusk
by dusk
from dawn until dusk
用法筆記
Dusk is not a precise time — it describes the transition period when the sky is still partly lit after sunset. Compare with twilight (more poetic) and nightfall (the moment when darkness fully arrives).
常見錯誤
dusk — adjective
1. having the shadowy, low-light quality of dusk; dim and difficult to see clearly
having the shadowy, low-light quality of dusk; dim and difficult to see clearly because of fading light.
The old photographs showed a dusky room with heavy curtains and a single lamp.
Amira could barely see the path in the dusky evening light.
dusky + evening light: describes dim natural lighting
The cave walls had a dusky blue colour that reminded Nellie of twilight.
Tendai walked along a dusky street where the streetlights had not yet turned on.
- bright
full of light, the opposite of dim or dusky
文法句型
dusk + noun
be dusk
用法筆記
Dusk as an adjective is much less common than dusky. It appears mainly in literary or descriptive writing to suggest a soft, dim quality of light.
dusk — verb
1. to grow gradually darker as the sun goes down and evening turns into night; used
to grow gradually darker as the sun goes down and evening turns into night; used only of the sky or the time of day.
By the time they reached the mountain hut, the sky was already dusking.
intransitive: the sky was dusking
In late November, the afternoon dusks shortly after four o'clock in Scotland.
As the sky dusked, the first stars appeared one by one above the desert.
Lien hurried back to the camp as the afternoon began to dusk into evening.
- dawn
as a verb, describes the sky getting lighter in the morning
文法句型
sky dusks
it dusks
dusk into [time]
用法筆記
This verb is rare and used almost exclusively in literary writing. In everyday English, speakers say 'it got dark' or 'dusk fell' instead. It is always intransitive — you cannot say 'the clouds dusked the sky.'