Word.ws English Dictionary

sunbeam

sunbeam noun: a ray of sunlight; especially, a demarcated, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight (as revealed by, for example, its diffraction among dust particles).

sunbeam: a ray of sunlight; especially, a demarcated, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of...
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Noun

sunbeam (plural sunbeams)

  1. A ray of sunlight; especially, a demarcated, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight (as revealed by, for example, its diffraction among dust particles).
    • Near-synonym: sunshaft (narrow, demarcated)
    • I cut-in various other material to this; for instance, a shot of a rushing brook in springtime, with dancing sunbeams reflected in the water; of birds splashing in the village pond; and, finally, of a laughing child.1957, Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art, page 90
    Synonyms:
    sunshaft
  2. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Curetis.
  3. Any hummingbird of the genus Aglaeactis.
  4. (UK) Synonym of sunshine (“ironic form of address to an inferior or troublemaker”).
    • DOCTOR: You seem to be our best bet so far, don't you think so, Mel? Mel? Where's Mel?
      DEPUTY: No, no, no, sunbeam. You're coming with us.1987, Doctor Who (TV series), Paradise Towers (aired 5 October)
  5. (Australia, colloquial, dated) An item of cutlery or crockery laid out on a table, but not used, and which can be returned to the drawer without being washed.

Proper noun capitalized: Sunbeam

Sunbeam

  1. An unincorporated community in Moffat County, Colorado, United States.
  2. An unincorporated community in Mercer County, Illinois, United States.
  3. An unincorporated community in Logan County, West Virginia, United States.

sunbeam meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu

sunbeam in Hindi

narrow, intense ray of sunlight
सूर्यकिरण sūryakiraṇ

sunbeam in Marathi

sunbeam, ray of light
मयूख mayūkh
sunbeam, sunray
सूर्यकिरण sūryakiraṇ

sunbeam in Bengali

sunbeam, ray
অংশু oṅśu

sunbeam in Telugu

a sunbeam
పొగకర్ర pogakarra
More languagesFewer languages
sunbeam in Gujarati
અંશુ ãśu
sunbeam in Sanskrit
आतप ātapa
sunbeam in Persian
پرتو آفتاب partow-e âftâb

Examples of sunbeam in a sentence

  • All sunbeams, and thus all shadows, appear to converge there.[…]Only perspective makes all shadows appear to converge on the antisolar point.2001, Raymond L. Lee, Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science, page 116:
  • I had frequently had to explain to cameramen that only in the early morning or late in the evening did sunbeams fall from the window as flat as they were usually found in films.2008, Lotte H. Eisner, translated by Roger Greaves, The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max...

Synonyms of sunbeam

Forms of sunbeam

pluralsunbeams

Plural of sunbeam: sunbeams

Origin of sunbeam

From Middle English sonnebem, sonnebeem, from Old English sunnbēam, sunnebēam (“sunbeam”), equivalent to sun + beam.

Words formed from sunbeam

  • angled sunbeam
  • bright sunbeam
  • Burmese sunbeam
  • Indian sunbeam
  • Shiva's sunbeam
  • sunbeam snake
  • sunbeamy
  • toothed sunbeam

Phrases with sunbeam

Questions about sunbeam

What does sunbeam mean?
Sunbeam means a ray of sunlight; especially, a demarcated, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight (as revealed by, for example, its diffraction among dust particles).
What is sunbeam in Hindi?
Sunbeam in Hindi is सूर्यकिरण (sūryakiraṇ). See Sunbeam meaning in Hindi.
How do you use sunbeam in a sentence?
All sunbeams, and thus all shadows, appear to converge there.[…]Only perspective makes all shadows appear to converge on the antisolar point.
What part of speech is sunbeam?
Sunbeam can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of sunbeam?
The plural of sunbeam is sunbeams.

Words near sunbeam in the dictionary

  1. sunbather
  2. sunbathers
  3. sunbathes
  4. sunbathing
  5. sunbaths
  6. sunbeam
  7. sunbeam snake
  8. sunbeam snakes
  9. sunbeams
  10. sunbeamy
  11. sunbeat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sunbeam (page history and authors); Sunbeam (page history and authors); मयूख (Marathi) (page history and authors); অংশু (Bengali) (page history and authors); పొగకర్ర (Telugu) (page history and authors); અંશુ (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sunbeam.wav.

Cite this entry: “sunbeam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sunbeam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.