twilight zone

twilight zone noun: a moving line that divides the daylit side and the dark night side of a planetary body.

Noun (1)

twilight zone (plural twilight zones)

A moving line that divides the daylit side and the dark night side of a planetary body.

Synonyms:

terminator
(broadly, figuratively) A region or context located in between others and therefore not subject to their norms.
- As to this right, therefore, the people have expressly created a twilight zone, in which neither nation nor state can act.1911, Case and Comment
- They were interesting because they represented a sort of twilight zone separating the "old days" from modern times.1978, Cornelius Cole Smith, Fort Huachuca: The Story of a Frontier Post
Synonyms:

shadowland
A deteriorating area surrounding a central business district.
- Geographically speaking, the twilight zone encompasses those areas that lie between the central business district and the first ring of suburban shopping centers, many of which are comparatively obsolete.2012, George Sternlieb, James W. Hughes, Shopping Centers: U.S.A., page 52
Synonym of mesopelagic zone (“the part of the ocean where there is very minimal light, located below the photic epipelagic zone but above the aphotic bathypelagic zone.”).

Synonyms:

mesopelagic zone

twilight zone (third-person singular simple present twilight zones, present participle twilight zoning, simple past and past participle twilight zoned)

(idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To put or place into an indeterminate position; to be in an ambiguous, undetermined, or improper context.
- Sometimes I think she's really a gym teacher twilight-zoned into the corridors of government. I'm always surprised to see that it's a gold, clipless Cross pen she's carrying and not a gym whistle.1989, Jack Kendall, Playing for Keeps
(idiomatic, transitive) To cause to daydream or zone out; to cause to lose attention to one's surroundings.
- "I've been distant and into myself all night," I said. "The kids say I get twilight zoned."1997, James Patterson, Cat & Mouse

twilight zone (plural twilight zones)

(figuratively) A region in which surreal, supernatural, or fantastic events occur.
- Oh, I can't talk right now, Duke. I'm in the twilight zone.1996 Christopher Lloyd, "Mixed Doubles," Frasier, Season 4, Episode 6 (originally aired 19 November 1996), spoken by Martin Crane (John Mahoney)
- Ground controllers were uncertain for some agonizing hours what had happened to the spacecraft [...] "We have entered the twilight zone," dead-panned one jaded engineer.1998, Eric Chaisson, The Hubble wars: astrophysics meets astropolitics in the two-billion-dollar struggle over the Hubble Space Telescope, Harvard University Press, page 337

twilight zone (third-person singular simple present twilight zones, present participle twilight zoning, simple past and past participle twilight zoned)

(idiomatic, intransitive) To experience or perceive something bizarre or fantastic.
- Then a gnome like white haired lady, bent like a human question mark, lurched toward me and asked if I was the mailman. [...] I was Twilight Zoning.2016, Bill Roddey, Making ID TV's 'Too Pretty to Live' Crime Show Starring Me
(idiomatic, intransitive) To behave or occur in a confusing or unexpected manner.
- The service is likely from a bad twilight zone episode. [...] I did get what I required but I had to ask lots of questions as the communication was Twilight Zoning often.2011, David H., Beddington Registry Service review, Yelp

மங்கொளி மண்டலம்

...the classification scheme related to goods which lay in a "twilight zone" between consumer goods and equipment or between inventory and farm products.1999, Grant Gilmore, Security Interests in Personal Property:
But is there not a twilight zone over which both Church and State put forth claims?2006, Charles C Marshall, The Roman Catholic Church in the Modern State:
I wondered if we'd just entered the twilight zone.2009, Steve Sisgold, What's Your Body Telling You?: Listening To Your Body's Signals to Stop Anxiety, Erase Self-Doubt and Achieve True...

Noun
plural	twilight zones
Verb
third-person singular present	twilight zones
present participle	twilight zoning
past participle	twilight zoned
past	twilight zoned

Because such a zone (in the literal sense of the term) is twilit; see twilight § Etymology.

From the anthology television series The Twilight Zone, first aired in 1959, whose name was inspired by the astrophysical sense.

What does twilight zone mean?: Twilight zone means a moving line that divides the daylit side and the dark night side of a planetary body.
What is twilight zone in Tamil?: Twilight zone in Tamil is மங்கொளி மண்டலம். See Twilight zone meaning in Tamil.
How do you use twilight zone in a sentence?: ...the classification scheme related to goods which lay in a "twilight zone" between consumer goods and equipment or between inventory and farm products.
What part of speech is twilight zone?: Twilight zone can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of twilight zone?: The plural of twilight zone is twilight zones.

Adapted from Wiktionary: twilight zone (page history and authors); twilight zone (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “twilight zone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twilight_zone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.