Of or belonging to day; pertaining to the daytime; belonging to the period of daylight, as distinguished from the night: opposed to nocturnal: as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours; diurnal habits, as of an animal.Daily; happening every day: as, a diurnal task.Performed in or occupying one day; lasting but for one day; ephemeral.Constituting the measure of a day, either on the earth or one of the other planets: as, the diurnal revolution of the earth, or of Mars or Jupiter.Characterized by some change or peculiarity which appears and disappears with the daytime, n. A day-book; a diary; a journal.n. A daily newspaper.n. A Roman Catholic service-book containing the offices for the daily hours of prayer.n. In ornithology, a diurnal bird of prey.n. In entomology, one of the Diurna.