- present participle of dawn.
dawning
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“There’s just a dawning understanding of broader American consciousness about caregiving and aging. It’s a massive infrastructure issue and economic issue that will impact all of us in some way.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
Graham Burnett, a history professor at Princeton University, sees "the dawning of an authentic movement," similar to the birth of the environmental movement in the 1960s, which led to landmark environmental protections.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
This might be a dawning moment, when the golfing world realises that someone capable of winning a record-equalling 82 PGA Tour titles might not be the best qualified to shape its future.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
It even overwhelms his dawning understanding of Venice’s spreading cholera outbreak, as he concludes he would rather stay on vacation than save the boy—or himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
A slow horror was dawning on me through the haze of fear and pain.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Ye have been and are the dawnings of affection and the daysprings of divine grace: defile not the tongue with cursing or execration of anyone, and guard the eye from that which is not seemly.
From A Traveler’s Narrative by `Abdu'l-Bahá
We trace his progress step by step, from the first dawnings of unlawful ambition, to the cynical melancholy of his impenitent remorse.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 370, August 1846 by Various
Mrs. Willis hailed with pleasure any little dawnings of real thought in her girls’ prize essays.
From A World of Girls The Story of a School by L. T. Meade
"He says there is something singularly interesting in watching the countenances and movements of children, and in tracing the dawnings of respective characters."
From Home Influence A Tale for Mothers and Daughters by Grace Aguilar
Let us look upon him in the dawnings of his fame, before he is summoned to adorn the stately halls of Munich with frescoes from the Niebelungen Lied.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 348 by Various
