sunbeam
Americannoun
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a beam or ray of sunlight.
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Australian Slang. a dish or utensil that has not been used during a meal and so does not have to be washed.
noun
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a beam, ray, or stream of sunlight
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slang a piece of crockery or cutlery laid for a meal but remaining unused
Other Word Forms
- sunbeamed adjective
- sunbeamy adjective
Etymology
Origin of sunbeam
before 1000; Middle English sunnebem, Old English sun ( ne ) bēam. See sun, beam
Vocabulary lists containing sunbeam
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.
Kristin Chenoweth is a dazzling performer—a sunbeam who shines so brightly when she steps on a Broadway stage you might be tempted to reach for sunglasses.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 10, 2025
As Voyager 1 raced past Neptune on its way out of the Solar System, it turned its cameras back towards Earth and photographed a tiny speck, gleaming in a sunbeam.
From Scientific American • Oct. 18, 2023
When the sun is near the horizon, the light travels through more air, and almost all of the shorter wavelengths have been removed from the original sunbeam.
From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2023
If you’re in the car and your phone is sitting on the passenger seat in a sunbeam, you’ll notice how much faster your battery drains.
From Fox News • Oct. 24, 2021
But I’d see a sunbeam coming through the window, turn my head to watch the little dust things that floated in it, and bam, I’d be face-first on the floor.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
