How to Use nocturnal in a Sentence

nocturnal

adjective
  • The nocturnal bird makes for cute brooches and bracelet charms.
    — Elizabeth Wellington, Philly.com, 21 July 2017
  • The nocturnal birds have tufts on their heads that look like horns or ears.
    — Helena Wegner, Sacramento Bee, 28 Mar. 2024
  • All of these are nocturnal except for the ground hogs.
    — Chris McKeown, Cincinnati Enquirer, 25 Oct. 2025
  • The gecko is nocturnal and lives in and around limestone caves.
    — Stories By Real-Time News Team, With Ai Summarization, Miami Herald, 21 Feb. 2025
  • These nocturnal, burrow‑dwelling species are rarely seen.
    — Tiffany Acosta, AZCentral.com, 4 Aug. 2025
  • Dogs, on the other hand, evolved from wolves who are nocturnal hunters.
    — Jennifer Nelson, Southern Living, 12 Mar. 2021
  • The nocturnal owls don’t hoot but make strange screams and hissings sounds at night.
    — Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Apr. 2024
  • The nocturnal owls don’t hoot but make strange screams and hissings sounds at night.
    — Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Apr. 2024
  • One night, the group hired a local guide to drive in to the park to look for nocturnal wildlife.
    — Scott McMurren, Anchorage Daily News, 23 July 2022
  • An opossum is the size of a house cat, is nocturnal and lives in the forest.
    — Heloise, Washington Post, 22 June 2019
  • The adults are nocturnal and rest during the day around the base of the plants (in the soil or thatch).
    — oregonlive, 27 Aug. 2021
  • The bats live in cages lit with red lights, which nocturnal animals can't see.
    — John Wisely, Detroit Free Press, 29 June 2017
  • The nocturnal sheet web spider is a sit-and-wait predator.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 29 Aug. 2025
  • The black ghost knifefish is, as its name implies, a nocturnal hunter.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
  • Renna said mice are nocturnal, have poor vision and use their nose and whiskers to get around.
    — Brittany Nader, cleveland.com, 17 Jan. 2018
  • The music fades and where there were the nocturnal crickets at the start, now there are ocean waves.
    — Steve Hochman, SPIN, 9 Mar. 2023
  • Bats are skilled nocturnal hunters that use echolocation to find, track, and catch their prey.
    — Ari Daniel, NPR, 22 May 2024
  • For the most part, though, the nocturnal creatures stay out of humans’ sight.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026
  • But a lot of it is unseen; a lot of the animals in the desert are nocturnal.
    — Hazlitt, 26 Oct. 2023
  • Pig frogs are nocturnal and are most active during the warmest months of the year.
    — Olivia Ferrari, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Counter to the popular image of bats, not all of them are nocturnal.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2020
  • Night parrots are one of only two nocturnal parrot species in the world.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 9 June 2020
  • Hogs tend to be nocturnal, so the after-dawn excursions last just a few hours.
    — Allie Morris, Dallas News, 30 Nov. 2020
  • The creatures are nocturnal, doing most of their feeding and work at night.
    — Kip Hill, The Seattle Times, 30 Mar. 2018
  • For not all of the world’s legions of undead are nocturnal blood-predators with fangs.
    — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Arya litter frogs are nocturnal and live in tropical forests, the study said.
    — Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2025
  • In the series, a nocturnal species known as gargoyles are stone during the day but come alive at night.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 16 Oct. 2023
  • Learn about the history of the solstice and watch for nocturnal wildlife.
    — courant.com, 25 Nov. 2020
  • Wombats in the wild are nocturnal and come out at night to feed on grass and roots, and often dig burrows.
    — Douglas Main, Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2014
  • Pha Mi bent-toed geckos are nocturnal, living in and around rocky caves, the study said.
    — Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 3 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nocturnal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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