autumn

A1
US /ˈɔtəm/ UK /ˈɔːtəm/
noun verb name Freq #5677

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    Traditionally the third of the four seasons, when deciduous trees lose their leaves, and temperatures and daylight hours decrease; typically regarded as spanning the months of September, October, and November in the Northern Hemisphere, and the months of March, April and May in the Southern Hemisphere.

    autumn leaves

  2. 2
    noun

    The time period when someone or something is past its prime.

    She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn.

  3. 3
    verb

    To spend the autumn (in a particular place).

    True it is that, owing to the migratory propensities of our countrymen, every third man has wintered at Naples, springed at Vienna, summered in Switzerland, and autumned on the banks of the Lago Maggiore;

  4. 4
    verb

    To (cause to) undergo the changes associated with autumn, such as leaves changing color and falling from trees.

    The glistening path where weeds had clung, / And tumbled bushes lay, / Was hidden now, but yet there rung / Tones of an autumned May.[…]And cheers rang out, the song and shout, / For the fray had found its eve, / And pirate chief like autumned leaf, / O’er fallen pride did grieve!”

  5. 5
    noun

    the season when the leaves fall from the trees

  6. 6
    noun

    A person with relatively dark hair and a warm skin tone, seen as best suited to certain colours in clothing.

  7. 7
    name

    A female given name from English of modern usage, from autumn, the name of the season.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English autumpne, from Middle French automne, from Old French automne, autonne, from Latin autumnus. Some of the verbal senses are from Latin autumnāre.

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Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · traditionally the third of... back endfallharvest
2 noun · the time period when... decline
5 noun · the season when the leaves... fall
Word family
Derived forms autumn-springautumn-timeautumnfestautumnfulautumniseautumnishautumnizeautumntideautumntimeautumnwearautumnymid-autumn
Related forms autumnalautumnianautumnity

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