sundial

American  

[suhn-dahy-uhl, -dahyl] / ˈsʌnˌdaɪ əl, -ˌdaɪl /

noun

1. an instrument that indicates the time of day by means of the position, on a graduated plate or surface, of the shadow of the gnomon as it is cast by the sun.

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sundial British  

/ ˈsʌnˌdaɪəl /

noun

1. a device indicating the time during the hours of sunlight by means of a stationary arm (the gnomon ) that casts a shadow onto a plate or surface marked in hours

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Etymology

Origin of sundial

First recorded in 1570–80; sun + dial

Example Sentences

You’re watching a ticker that moves like a sundial.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 12, 2025

The name gujeolpan refers to nine ingredients on a plate, with eight colorful vegetables or proteins sliced thinly and arrayed around the edge of plate, much like a mouth-watering sundial.

From Salon • Oct. 26, 2025

As I squeezed the pedal harder, the animated speedometer—designed a bit like an Aztec sundial, with spiky points blooming around the center—grew in radiance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 25, 2025

“Our ancestors, always hurried,” she writes in “Angel in the Forest,” “left little evidence of their existence, if one discounts intangibles, a sundial, an apple a day, an angel in the forest.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2024

He was the first person in Greece to make a sundial, a map of the known world and a celestial globe that showed the patterns of the constellations.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• timer