1. The first light of day
   "Birds began to sing at the dawning";
   - dawn, morning, aurora, first light, daybreak, break of day, break of the day, dayspring, sunrise, sunup, cockcrow

1. Become light
   "It started to dawn, and we had to get up"
    
2. Appear or develop
   "The age of computers had dawned"
    
3. Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
   "It dawned on him that she had betrayed him";
   - click, get through, come home, get across, sink in, penetrate, fall into place

Derived forms: dawnings

Type of: begin, change, hour, realise [Brit], realize, see, start, time of day, understand

Encyclopedia: Dawning