sunstroke

American

[suhn-strohk] / ˈsʌnˌstroʊk /

noun

Pathology.

a sudden and sometimes fatal affection due to exposure to the sun's rays or to excessive heat, marked by prostration with or without fever, convulsion, and coma.

sunstroke British

/ ˈsʌnˌstrəʊk /

noun

heatstroke caused by prolonged exposure to intensely hot sunlight

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sunstroke

First recorded in 1850–55; sun + stroke ¹

Vocabulary lists containing sunstroke

The Sun – Introductory

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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.

"He suffered a sunstroke last year because he was working under the hot sun."

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2025

One U.S. labor official, according to Ngai, reported that 88 deportees died of heat exhaustion or sunstroke in July of 1955 after being dropped off in the border city of Mexicali in 112°F July heat.

From Salon • Sep. 21, 2024

“I didn’t know what sunstroke was, and nobody had told me what could happen.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2024

On the first day, said Mr. Gao, 39, he had sunstroke.

From New York Times • Dec. 3, 2023

"I'm tired of selling lemonade. And it's just too hot. I practically had sunstroke yesterday painting all those faces."

From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023