sunny
Americanadjective
-
full of or exposed to sunlight
-
radiating good humour
-
of or resembling the sun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sunny
Explanation
Sunny means shining with bright sunlight, like a beautiful sunny Saturday at the beach. It can also mean cheerful, like your sunny, upbeat best friend. When the sun is shining, it's a sunny day, and when you're smiling and friendly, you're sunny too. Sunny has been used in this figurative way since the 16th century, and in the 1830s, sunny side came to mean "optimistic outlook." However, if you order your eggs sunny side up, it just means you'll get two fried eggs with bright yellow, runny yolks.
Vocabulary lists containing sunny
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -y
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 6
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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.
On a recent sunny afternoon, volunteers took part in a collaboration between Farm Party and the Solano Canyon Community Garden.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2026
In a nation that doesn't care much for soccer, vast crowds sang the cheesy, sunny song "Country Roads" to motivate their heroes.
From Barron's • Jul. 7, 2026
With a holiday-shortened week and a heat wave upon much of the country, investors are primed to look on the sunny side.
From Barron's • Jun. 30, 2026
On a sunny morning in the spring of 1997, Browne took to the podium at Stanford University’s open-air Frost Amphitheater to deliver a speech unlike anything ever heard from an oil executive.
From Salon • Jun. 26, 2026
Now I sit with her in her sunny living room and slip my guitar out of its case.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
