Summertime is the season of summer, the warmest part of the year. While “summer” marks the season on a calendar (roughly June through August in the Northern Hemisphere), summertime evokes the experience and feeling of those long, sun-drenched days.

When people talk about summertime, they're often thinking about the whole experience: lazy afternoons at the pool, family vacations, staying up later because the sun doesn't set until 9 p.m., and the freedom that comes when school lets out. The word carries a sense of relaxation and possibility that the formal word “summer” doesn't quite capture. You might hear someone say, “In the summertime, we always visit my grandparents' farm” or sing, “Summertime, and the living is easy.”

The word can also refer literally to the time shown on clocks during summer. Many places observe daylight saving time, moving clocks forward in spring and back in fall, but some people call this adjusted time “summertime” to distinguish it from standard time used in winter.