sunflower
Americannoun
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sunflowers
plural
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any of various composite plants of the genus Helianthus, as H. annuus, having showy, yellow-rayed flower heads often 12 inches (30 centimeters) wide, and edible seeds that yield an oil with a wide variety of uses: the state flower of Kansas.
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Also called aster. Furniture. a conventionalized flower motif carved in the center panels of a Connecticut chest.
noun
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any of several American plants of the genus Helianthus, esp H. annuus, having very tall thick stems, large flower heads with yellow rays, and seeds used as food, esp for poultry: family Asteraceae (composites) See also Jerusalem artichoke
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the oil extracted from sunflower seeds, used as a salad oil, in the manufacture of margarine, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sunflower
First recorded in 1555–65; translation of Latin flōs sōlis “flower of the sun”
Vocabulary lists containing sunflower
Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I was almost like a sunflower, constantly facing and chasing actor Jeon.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Her first successful attempt was a pair of sunflower earrings she made for herself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Kernel, a leading sunflower oil and grain exporter, also halted its operations at Chornomorsk as the Russian attacks escalated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
Then he shrugged and put the sunflower seeds back up on the hook.
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
Adams said straw, mushrooms, corn, rye and sunflowers are great bioremediators that can help to repair damage to soils.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Even more surprising were the endless fields of corn, rapeseed and sunflowers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Plus a flower shop next door called Verdant that has flowers I’ve genuinely never seen anywhere else: pink sunflowers that aren’t dyed, just extraordinary things.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
And so the same peloton will be hurtling along the cobbles a couple of months before gliding through the sunflowers of a French summer.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
The spirit horse charged into the sunflowers and dissipated into vapor.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
