dawn on

present singular third person dawns on · participle present dawning on · participle past dawned on · past dawned on · alternative dawn upon

1. idiomaticTo occur to somebody; to be realized by.

   It finally dawned on him that he could automate the process instead of doing it by hand each time.

   4 more examples

   Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   "Sir," he remarked, "you have been robbed," and then it suddenly dawned on me that it must have taken place as I was passing the men congregated in the corridor.

   1943 September and October, Chas. S. Lake, “Some Continental Travel Experiences (1922-1934)—IV”, in Railway Magazine, page 287

   What dawned on me as the night went on is that even in apparently frivolous conditions the establishment asserts control, and won't tolerate having that assertion challenged, even flippantly, by that most beautifully adept tool: comedy.

   2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 20 Mar 2015

   Underground stations were also slated for closure, and there were plans for massive ring roads to cater for the ever-growing numbers of people commuting into town by car. […] However, it soon dawned on politicians that this was unsustainable. Much of London would have had to be demolished to make way for the ring roads, and parking was becoming an insuperable difficulty.

   2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57

   Synonyms: strike, register