sunburn
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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Technical name: erythema solare. inflammation of the skin caused by overexposure to the sun
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another word for suntan
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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sunburntadjective
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unsunburnedadjective
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unsunburntadjective
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well-sunburnedadjective
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well-sunburntadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sunburn
Vocabulary lists containing sunburn
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:
Anyone can get sunburn, including people with darker skin tones, and the charity is reminding the public to stay safe over what could be a sunny bank holiday across much of the UK.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
The backlog of afflictions in the waiting room include severe sunburn…
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
“I like to think of this as a sunburn: The first day you get it, it’s really bad. Day after day, it does get a little bit better, but there’s still a burn.”
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 26, 2026
UV radiation can injure DNA and generate oxidative stress in skin cells, which in turn triggers inflammation that causes the familiar redness, pain, and blistering of sunburn.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2025
He’s got a sunburn across his face and tiny blue eyes and pale hair, so pale it might as well be white, too.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
It provides broader spectrum protection than other ingredients, shielding skin from both UVA rays—which penetrate deep into the skin, causing premature aging—and UVB rays, which cause sunburns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Although many people associate UV light with sunburns and skin damage, it plays an important role in numerous technologies.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
The desert can be hot and rough, but Giveon’s soothing baritone is a balm capable of healing sunburns and broken hearts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Camp counselor gigs that paid in bug spray and sunburns.
From Salon ● May 26, 2025
When I returned to our fly, evening having fallen, I found Dr. Trefusis applying cold tea to his sunburns.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
He’d minnowed through sunburned madmen on winding Alpine passes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
You should not put petroleum jelly or ice on sunburned skin.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
A group of older sunburned guys, arms overloaded with coolers and fishing gear, jogged awkwardly toward a party fishing boat that appeared to be on the verge of pulling out for the night.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2024
You can get sunburned even on a cloudy day, so don’t take the absence of visible sun for granted.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2023
I looked at him to see if he was joking, but his sunburned face was expressionless.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
"There is one thing we all agree on, that you've got to avoid sunburning and avoid overexposure," he said.
From Reuters ● Apr. 19, 2010
If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sunburning, that never looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook.
From The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by Shakespeare, William
“Dinny! how can you!” cried Jack, angrily, as he saw the tears start into his brother’s eyes, and that in spite of the sunburning he turned haggard and pale.
From Off to the Wilds Being the Adventures of Two Brothers by Hildibrand, Henri Théophile
“An’ did ye see the murthering baste?” cried Dinny, who looked white through his sunburning.
From Off to the Wilds Being the Adventures of Two Brothers by Hildibrand, Henri Théophile
It is so desirable to make outbuildings neat and clean, and so important to keep trees from sunburning, etc., that a durable whitewash as cheaply and easily made as possible is very important.
From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
Getting sunburnt regularly increases the chances of skin cancer.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
We depend on our cells being able to divide and multiply, whether it's to replace sunburnt skin or replenish our blood supply and recover from injury.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024
Mom is claiming that getting sunburnt is a necessary condition for spending all day in the sun.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
The probe focused on the 60-year-old Fall, who “mildly resembles a Western bandit with his black hat and his sunburnt face” and “smokes the worst cigars in Washington,” the Brooklyn Eagle reported.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2022
We would return home weary and sunburnt, carrying small jars half-filled with grasshoppers.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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.
