Meaning & use
launch day
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The day on which a new product, service, or event is officially made available to the public.
Grammar: Usually used with 'the' or a possessive: the launch day, our launch day.
Patterns
- the launch day for something
- on launch day
- somebody's launch day
The whole team stayed late the night before launch day.
On launch day, the website received ten times the usual traffic.
They moved launch day back by two weeks because testing was incomplete.
nouncountable
The first day something begins operating or being sold, especially a store, ship, or mission.
Grammar: Often follows 'since' or 'before' to talk about timing: since launch day.
Patterns
- since launch day
- before launch day
- launch day for something
Since launch day, the app has been downloaded two million times.
The crew spent months training before launch day.
Launch day for the new ferry is set for June.
Word forms
| plural | launch days |
|---|
Common combinations
- product launch day
- Product launch day is always stressful for the marketing team.
- on launch day
- On launch day, the servers briefly went down.
- launch day event
- They held a small launch day event at the flagship store.
- delay launch day
- Bad weather forced them to delay launch day.
- launch day preparations
- Launch day preparations began six months in advance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- release date
- More common for films, music, and software; it stresses the scheduled date rather than the whole day's activity.
- opening day
- Used for stores, exhibitions, and sports seasons; 'launch day' suggests something new being introduced rather than simply opening.
- rollout
- A noun for the whole process of making something available, not just the single day.
Word family
Commonly confused: launch day or lunch day?
launch day vs lunch day
'Lunch day' is not a standard term; 'launch day' has /ɔː/ or /ɑː/, while 'lunch' has /ʌ/.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'launch day' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Launch day' is a fixed compound noun and works as a single unit after 'celebrated'. Option 1 adds an unnecessary 'the' and 'launch' alone; option 2 uses 'launching day', which is not the usual term; option 3 scrambles the word order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “launch day”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.