dawn upon
B1 formal inseparable intransitive
In simple words
To slowly understand something you didn't see before — same as 'dawn on' but more formal.
Literal meaning: For dawn (the start of the day's light) to appear upon something.
Meanings
1 B1
idiomatic
formal
To gradually become clear or understood by someone; to come to be realised (formal/literary variant of 'dawn on').
"It slowly dawned upon the detective that the witness had been lying from the very beginning."
""It dawned upon me gradually that...""
Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes
Functionally identical to 'dawn on'. 'Dawn upon' appears more frequently in literary and older written texts; 'dawn on' is more common in modern spoken and written English. Both are grammatically correct.
Commonly used with
me him her them the reader the world
Forms
Base
dawn upon
I/you/we/they
3rd person
dawns upon
he/she/it
Past simple
dawned upon
yesterday
Past participle
dawned upon
have + pp
-ing form
dawning upon
continuous
Understand "dawn upon" better
Try:
Real video examples
Video examples are being collected. Check back soon.
Want to master this phrasal verb?
Practice "dawn upon" on Looplines