dawning
n. uncountablen. the time when the sun starts to rise and the sky turns light. It is often used to describe the beginning of a new day or a new idea.
n. the period of time immediately before sunrise when the sky begins to brighten. Often used metaphorically to signify the onset of a new era or the initial stages of a realization.
The dawning of the new day brought fresh hope.
As the dawning of the morning light revealed the valley below, the hikers realized they had reached the summit.
The dawning of the industrial age transformed the landscape from a patchwork of small farms into a network of factories and railways.
From Middle English dawnynge, an alteration of dawing, under the influence of North Germanic cognates (compare Swedish, Danish dagning). See daw (“to dawn”).