Twilight is the gentle, soft light that fills the sky after sunset or before sunrise, when the sun is below the horizon but its light still reaches us. During twilight, the sky glows with deep blues, purples, and oranges, and you can often see both stars and lingering daylight at the same time.

There are actually three stages of twilight. Civil twilight happens first after sunset, when you can still read outside without a flashlight. Nautical twilight comes next, when sailors can still see the horizon clearly enough to navigate by the stars. Finally, astronomical twilight arrives, when even the faintest traces of sunlight disappear and true darkness begins. The same stages happen in reverse order before sunrise.

Twilight also means a period of decline or the final phase of something. A once-famous actor might spend the twilight of their career making guest appearances rather than starring in movies. When historians talk about the twilight of the Roman Empire, they mean its final years before collapse.

The word captures something in between: not quite day, not quite night, not quite ended but no longer at full strength.