in the cold light of day en · ADP
Pronunciation
- /-ˌlʌɪ̯t-/ (Canada)
- (US) audio
- ĭn′ thə kōld′ līt′ əv dā′
- /ˌən ðə ˈkɐʉ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdæɪ̯/ (New-Zealand)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌɪn ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdeɪ̯/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˌɪn d̪e ˈkoːlɖ ˌlajʈ ov ˈɖeː/ (India)
- /-ˌlʌi̯t-/ (Scotland)
- /-ˌləi̯t-/ (Scotland)
- /ˌɪn ðə ˈkoʊ̯ld ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈdeɪ̯/ (Canada, General-American)
- /ˌɪn ðə ˈkold ˌlaɪ̯t əv ˈde/ (Scotland)
- /ˌɪn ðə ˈkəʉ̯ld ˌlɑe̯t əv ˈdæɪ̯/ (Australia)
Etymology
Probably an allusion to a situation being seen more clearly in daylight, and after some time has passed. The word cold is used in the sense of “dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial”.
Meanings
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(figuratively) Viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool or after having sobered up.
In the cold light of day, I felt I had overreacted.
In my over-wrought state of the night before, it had seemed reasonable enough; but here, in the cold light of day, it seemed preposterous.
1912 March, Burton E[gbert] Stevenson, “Preparations”, in The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet: A Detective Story, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1918, →OCLC, page 119:To the dreamer, a dream can seem at the time eerily indistinguishable from everyday consciousness yet, in retrospect, upon waking, so self-evidently different. The fragmented narrative, the improbability of much of what happens – flying, for example, or the transmogrification of one individual suddenly into another, and so on – seem ludicrous, even embarrassing, in the cold light of day.
2016, Susan Greenfield, “Dreaming”, in A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn till Dusk, London: Penguin Books, published 2017, →ISBN:But in the cold light of day, and with the Railways Bill passing through Parliament, it's fair to say that not everyone is happy with what's being offered.
2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Will devolution deliver real local control?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 44:In the cold light of day, we're a flame in the wind / Not the fire that we've begun.
2018 August 16, Marshmello, Steve Mac, Dan Smith, “Happier”, performed by Marshmello and Bastille:
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Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, the, cold, light, of, day; during the day; in daylight.
Heather drove her mother to the Bloodshot Eyeball so they could survey the damage in the cold light of day.
2025 August 26, Jennifer Bernard, chapter 33, in Light of Day, Jennifer Bernard:And above the crowd of living figures rise colossal forms of armed warriors, and peaceful poets, and sceptred monarchs; these glowing crimson; those standing calm and pale in the cold light of day.
1853, Anna Mary Howitt, “The Casting of the Sieges-Thor, Bavaria”, in An Art-student in Munich. […], volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 178:However subtle the social pecking order may have been, the outsider entering the famous town with high expectations saw it in the cold light of day shrink into a philistine backwoods dump.
1989, Rüdiger Safranski, “Weimar”, in Ewald Osers, transl., Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1991, →ISBN, book 1, page 72:
Antonyms
Relateds
at the end of the day · morning after
Translations (10)
fi päivänvalossa (in daylight) · fi tunteiden tasaannuttua (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · pl w świetle dnia (in daylight) · pl w świetle dnia (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · de nüchtern betrachtet (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · fr à froid (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · nl in alle rust (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · it a freddo (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · it a mente fredda (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool) · fr à tête reposée (viewed calmly and dispassionately after allowing emotions to cool)