morning

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountable

   The early part of the day, from when the sun rises until about noon.

   Grammar: Usually used with 'the' or 'this/that': in the morning, this morning. It can be countable when talking about a particular morning: a cold morning, two mornings ago.

   Patterns

   • in the morning
   • on Monday morning
   • this morning
   • a beautiful morning

   I have coffee in the morning before work.

   The meeting is on Friday morning at ten.

   It was a bright, cold morning, and the streets were quiet.

2. 2nouncountableinformal

   A greeting said to someone when you meet them in the morning.

   Grammar: Used as a short form of 'good morning'. It is informal and common in everyday speech.

   Patterns

   • say morning to someone
   • morning!

   She walked in and said a cheerful 'Morning!' to everyone.

   He nodded at me and gave a quick 'Morning' as he passed.

Word forms

Common combinations

in the morning

I usually check my email in the morning.

early morning

We left at early morning to avoid the traffic.

morning coffee

He always has a cup of morning coffee before starting work.

all morning

She was on the phone all morning.

Monday morning

The office is always busy on Monday morning.

Synonyms and how they differ

forenoon

A formal or old-fashioned word for the same period; it is rarely used in everyday speech.

a.m.

Used for clock times after midnight and before noon, not as a general noun: at 9 a.m., not 'in the a.m.' for the whole period.

Opposites

Word family

morn noun

A literary or old-fashioned word for morning.

morning adjective

Used before a noun to mean happening in the morning, as in morning news.

Commonly confused: morning or mourning?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “morning”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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