Word.ws English Dictionary

5 o'clock shadow

5 o'clock shadow is the alternative form of five o'clock shadow.

Meaning of five o'clock shadow

Noun

five o'clock shadow (countable and uncountable, plural five o'clock shadows)

  1. (informal) A dark appearance on a man's chin and face caused by the slight growth of beard that has occurred since he shaved in the morning.
    • Men Wanted Without 5 O’Clock Shadow! To get on her wanted list, you must put your best face forward. Avoid “5 o’clock shadow” — that messy afternoon beard-growth. Stay face-neat all day long by shaving with a genuine Gem Blade.1942 November 30, Life, page 96

Forms of 5 o'clock shadow

plural5 o'clock shadows

Questions about 5 o'clock shadow

What is 5 o'clock shadow the alternative form of?
5 o'clock shadow is the alternative form of five o'clock shadow.

Words near 5 o'clock shadow in the dictionary

  1. 4XL
  2. 4ᵗʰ
  3. 5
  4. 5 & dime
  5. 5 & dimes
  6. 5 o'clock shadow
  7. 5 o'clock shadows
  8. 5 o'clock traffic
  9. 5 percenter
  10. 5 percenters
  11. 5-5-5 rule

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 5 o'clock shadow (page history and authors); five o'clock shadow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “5 o'clock shadow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/5_o%27clock_shadow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.