Meaning & use
goodnight
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Meanings
interjection
Used when leaving someone in the evening or before they go to sleep.
Grammar: Said on its own as a farewell; it is not followed by an object.
Patterns
- goodnight, someone
- say goodnight to someone
Goodnight, everyone — see you in the morning.
She kissed her son and said goodnight.
Goodnight! Sleep well.
nouncountable
An act of saying goodbye at night, or a word said when parting at night.
Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'say goodnight'; the plural is rare.
Patterns
- say goodnight to someone
- a quick goodnight
He gave me a quick goodnight and went upstairs.
The children came down to say goodnight before bed.
Word forms
| plural | goodnights |
|---|
Common combinations
- say goodnight
- Don't forget to say goodnight to your grandmother.
- kiss someone goodnight
- He kissed his daughter goodnight at the door.
- goodnight kiss
- She gave the baby a goodnight kiss.
- goodnight and goodbye
- He waved goodnight and goodbye to the whole table.
Synonyms and how they differ
- good evening
- Used as a greeting when you meet someone in the evening, not when you leave or go to bed.
- sleep well
- A friendly wish for a good night's sleep; it can follow 'goodnight' but is not a farewell by itself.
- night-night
- A childish or playful way to say goodnight, used with small children or in a joking tone.
Opposites
Word family
- goodnight interjection
- Also written as two words, 'good night', especially in older texts.
Commonly confused: goodnight or good night? goodnight or good evening?
goodnight vs good night
The two-word form is common in writing and is not wrong, but the single word 'goodnight' is the usual modern spelling when it is a farewell.
goodnight vs good evening
Use 'good evening' when you arrive or meet someone in the evening; use 'goodnight' when you leave or someone goes to bed.
Practice
You are leaving a friend's house at 10 p.m. What do you say?
Choose one answer.
'Goodnight' is the farewell used late in the day when you or the other person is leaving or going to bed. 'Good morning' and 'Good afternoon' are greetings for earlier in the day, and 'Good day' is a daytime greeting, not a nighttime farewell.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “goodnight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.