Nites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Informal plural form referring to the periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise when most people sleep ; colloquial variant spelling of the plural of the unit of time representing one rotation of the Earth relative to the Sun ; casual expression for the daily intervals characterized by lower light and often associated with rest or nighttime activities
2. An informal way to denote multiple occurrences of the daily dark phase ; a nonstandard spelling for the plural of the time segment marking each 24-hour cycle ; a relaxed term used to describe the dark hours typically spent resting or engaged in evening routines
3. A colloquial plural for the span of evening to morning when it is generally dark outside ; a variant spelling for several consecutive periods lasting about 24 hours each ; a popular informal reference to nighttime intervals associated with sleep and nocturnal events

Etymology: "Nites" is the plural of "nite," a nonstandard spelling of "night" that drops the "gh" and adds a silent "e" in the way informal writing often does with other words. The spelling belongs to the informal, playful register of texting, advertising and casual writing, where shortened or phonetic forms such as "nite" appear to signal friendliness or brevity. The word is a plural of a plural-by-spelling: it takes the ordinary English "-s" ending to mean more than one night, so "nites" points to a series of evenings or nights, much as "nights" does in standard English. Its meaning is therefore the same as "nights," and the difference lies only in spelling and tone.

Synonyms: nights, evenings, darknesses, twilights, dusks

Antonyms: days, mornings, noons, afternoons, daytimes