sunset
Americannoun
adjective
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(of an industry, technology, etc.) old; declining.
sunset industries.
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of, relating to, or characteristic of a sunset law.
to add sunset restrictions to a bill.
noun
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the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon
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the atmospheric phenomena accompanying this disappearance
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Also called: sundown. the time at which the sun sets at a particular locality
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the final stage or closing period, as of a person's life
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sunset
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at sun, set
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:
At Burnt Hill Farm, a hilltop winery in Clarksburg, Md., a suburb an hour outside of Washington, D.C., the best table is any table, 45 minutes before sunset.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Public health authorities say that to avoid direct exposure to rabies, residents should “respect the space of wildlife” and not touch or approach bats, which are most active around sunset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
They are most active during daylight hours and usually bite just after sunrise and around sunset.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Its nautically-themed bar regularly draws locals at sunset for Negronis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Isabella painted an amazing poster of a Hawaiian beach at sunset.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
The benefit of year-round daylight saving time would be 5:44 p.m. sunsets shortly after Thanksgiving for Los Angeles — a delight for Angelenos unhappy with 4:44 p.m. sunsets as winter approaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The change would mean darker mornings and later sunsets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Even the picturesque beaches and striking sunsets couldn’t dispel the tension among the members of Earth, Wind & Fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
By the 1870s his work—often passively comfortable with the standard paysage, or horizontal format, and entranced by distant spectacles like sunsets or mountaintops—began to seem sedate to serious viewers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
A glare that blinded you and brought visions of sunsets and golden sands.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
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.
