afternoon

noun

af·​ter·​noon ˌaf-tər-ˈnün 

1

: the part of day between noon and sunset

2

: a relatively late period (as of time or life)

in the afternoon of the 19th century

afternoon adjective

Synonyms

• afterlife
• age
• autumn
• evening

Examples of afternoon in a Sentence

morning, afternoon, evening, and night

I'll see you again tomorrow afternoon.

It was early afternoon when I left.

She spent the afternoon at the library.

I remember the many rainy afternoons I spent reading at the library.

She doesn't have class on Friday afternoons.

It took us all afternoon to get there.

It's going to be a long afternoon listening to lectures.

Recent Examples on the Web

In Denver, the snow is expected to abate completely by the afternoon, followed by a dry, sunny week, with highs in the upper 40s and low 50s. —Max Levy, The Denver Post, 9 Nov. 2024

Shares in Tesla, where Musk is CEO, were up more than 14.8% in afternoon trading, versus a rise in 2.4% for the S&P 500 index. And boosted by Trump’s alliance with cryptocurrency investors, bitcoin jumped to a new high and shares in Coinbase were up more than 30%. —David Ingram, NBC News, 6 Nov. 2024

The average credit card rate now is 20.5% — down just a tiny bit from the 20.78% average on the morning of Sept. 18, before the Fed announced its first rate cut that afternoon, according to Bankrate.com data. —Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 6 Nov. 2024

Later that afternoon the desert changes moods; the mercury drops and rain comes in hard, but Ryan barely seems to notice. —Matt Thompson, SPIN, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English afternone, from after- after- + none noon

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing afternoon

• good afternoon
• make a day/night/morning/afternoon/evening of it
• the other day/night/morning/afternoon/evening
• this afternoon

Kids Definition

afternoon

noun

af·​ter·​noon ˌaf-tər-ˈnün 

: the part of day between noon and sunset

afternoon adjective