dawn on

phraseC1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

For something to dawn on you is for the realisation to arrive slowly. Light coming up rather than a switch being flicked.

The image is exactly right, since a dawn is gradual and so is this kind of understanding. The grammar is unusual, because the thing understood is the subject: it dawned on her that nobody had told him. That construction is worth learning as a whole. The related noun dawning is used the same way, as in the dawning realisation that something is wrong.

Definitions of dawn on

1phrasedawn onTo become gradually clear to somebody.C1
“It will dawn on him eventually that nobody is coming.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Thinking & Memory

First appears in chapter 14 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

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dawn on

phraseC1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

For something to dawn on you is for the realisation to arrive slowly. Light coming up rather than a switch being flicked.

Definitions of dawn on

1phrasedawn onTo become gradually clear to somebody.C1
“It will dawn on him eventually that nobody is coming.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Thinking & Memory

First appears in chapter 14 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word