diurnal

From Latin diurnālis, from diēs (“day”). Doublet of journal.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /daɪˈɜːnəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /daɪˈɝ.nəl/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

diurnal (comparative more diurnal, superlative most diurnal)

1. Happening or occurring during daylight, or primarily active during that time.

   Most birds are diurnal.

   • 1972, Laurence Monroe Klauber, Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind, Volume 1‎^[1]:

     However, in general, lizards are more diurnal than rattlers, which may be one of the reasons why young rattlers are more diurnal than adults.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:

     Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring / Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring.

2. (botany) Said of a flower that is open, or releasing its perfume during daylight hours, but not at night.
3. Having a daily cycle that is completed every 24 hours, usually referring to tasks, processes, tides, or sunrise to sunset; circadian.
4. (uncommon) Done once every day; daily, quotidian.
5. (archaic) Published daily.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:diurnal.

• (having a daily cycle): circadian (biology)

• (antonym(s) of “happening or active during the day”): nocturnal, nightly
• (antonym(s) of “active or open during the day”): nocturnal

• (active or open during the day): crepuscular (active during twilight; dawn or dusk)
• (active or open during the day): matutinal (active during dawn)
• (active or open during the day): vespertine (active during dusk)
• (active or open during the day): diel (having a 24-hour period, regardless of day or night)

diurnal (plural diurnals)

1. A flower that opens only in the day.
2. (Catholicism) A book containing canonical offices performed during the day, hence not matins.
3. (archaic) A diary or journal.
   • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:

     He was by birth, some authors write, / A Russian, some a Muscovite, / And 'mong the Cossacks had been bred, / Of whom we in diurnals read.

4. (archaic) A daily news publication.

• IPA^(key): /djyʁ.nal/

diurnal m (plural diurnaux)

1. diurnal (book)

• “diurnal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French diurnal, from Latin diurnālis. By surface analysis, diurn +‎ -al. Doublet of jurnal.

diurnal m or n (feminine singular diurnală, masculine plural diurnali, feminine and neuter plural diurnale)

1. obsolete form of diurn (“diurnal”)

diurnal n (plural diurnale)

1. diurnal (book)