Word.ws English Dictionary

sunshine

Syllables: sun·shine/ˈsʌnʃaɪn/

sunshine noun: the direct rays, light or warmth of the sun. Also the ellipsis of orange sunshine.

sunshine: the direct rays, light or warmth of the sun
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sunshine (usually uncountable, plural sunshines)

  1. (usually) The direct rays, light or warmth of the sun.
    • We were warmed by the bright sunshine.
    • Oft tymes a thinge doth floꝛiſh, and men thynke that it maye abyde the Sonneſhyne: it ſhuteth foꝛth the bꝛaunches in his garden, it taketh many rotes, in ſo moch that it is like an houſe off ſtones.1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Job viij:[16–17]...
    Synonyms:
    sun, sunlight
  2. (usually) A location on which the sun's rays fall.
    • We moved out of the shade and into the sunshine.
    • Out again into the sunshine by the wide mouth of the Green River, as the chart named the brook whose level stream scarce moved into the lake. A streak of blue shot up it between the banks, and a shrill pipe came back as the kingfisher hastened away.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC
  3. (figuratively, usually) Geniality or cheerfulness.
    • I enjoyed the sunshine of her smile.
    • Ain't no sunshine when she's gone / Only darkness every day1971, Bill Withers, “Ain't No Sunshine”
  4. (figuratively, usually) A source of cheerfulness or joy.
    • You are the sunshine of my life / That's why I'll always be around / You are the apple of my eye / Forever you'll stay in my heart1972, Stevie Wonder, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, in Talking Book
  5. (usually) The effect which the sun has when it lights and warms some place.
  6. (Ireland, UK, usually) A friendly form of address often reserved for juniors.
    • Alright, sunshine, safe to cross now.
  7. (Ireland, UK, usually) An ironic form of address directed toward someone perceived as inferior or troublesome.
    • OK, sunshine, listen up and listen good. There's five vandalised telephone boxes out there and I know you're responsible.
  8. (humorous, usually) Used to address someone who has just woken up or is very sleepy.
    • Good morning, sunshine!

Adjective

sunshine (not comparable)

  1. (US) Open to and permitting public access, especially with regard to activities that were previously closed-door or back-room meetings.
    • Because of the sunshine law, we could go to the planning meeting.

Proper noun capitalized: Sunshine

Sunshine (plural Sunshines)

  1. A surname.
  2. A suburb of Newcastle in the Lake Macquarie council area, New South Wales, Australia.
  3. A suburb of Melbourne in the City of Brimbank, Victoria, Australia

Also used as

sunshine is also the ellipsis of orange sunshine.

sunshine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

sunshine in Hindi

direct rays of the sun
धूप dhūp, सूर्यप्रकाश sūryaprakāś

sunshine in Tamil

direct rays of the sun
வெயில் veyil

sunshine in Urdu

دھوپ, دھوپ کی روشنی

sunshine in Bengali

direct rays of the sun
রোদ rōd, রইদ roid, অইদ oid, আফতাব aphtab
More languagesFewer languages
sunshine in Telugu
సూర్యరశ్మి
sunshine in Malayalam
വെയിൽ veyil
sunshine in Punjabi
ਧੁੱਪ, ਸੂਰਜ ਦੀ ਧੁੱਪ
sunshine in Gujarati
તડકો taḍko, ધૂપ dhūp, તાપ tāp
sunshine in Odia
ସୂର୍ଯ୍ଯ଼କିରଣ
sunshine in Sanskrit
आतप ātapa
sunshine in Assamese
ৰ’দ röd
sunshine in Arabic
نُور الشَّمْس nūr aš-šams
sunshine in Persian
نور آفتاب nur-e âftâb
sunshine in Thai
แดด dɛ̀ɛt, แสงอาทิตย์ sɛ̌ɛng-aa-tít
sunshine in Vietnamese
nắng, ánh nắng, ánh sáng mặt trời
sunshine in Myanmar
နေရောင် neraung
Dhivehi
އަވި avi

Examples of sunshine in a sentence

  • Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get down in the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine1976, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”, performed by Roy Ayers Ubiquity:
  • If there was no sunshine / Then life on Earth would not survive / Just like I would surely die / Without your love1977, Keith Barrow, “Precious”, in Keith Barrow:
  • It was the season with the fourth most sunshine on record, beaten by three summers: 1911, 1976 and 1995.2025 December 17, Helena Horton, “2025 is UK’s sunniest year on record, boosting solar power”, in The Guardian, archived from the original...

All 40 example sentences with sunshine

Synonyms of sunshine

Forms of sunshine

Noun
pluralsunshines
alternative form (archaic)sun-shine
Proper noun
pluralSunshines

Plural of sunshine: sunshines

Origin of sunshine

In the Coverdale Bible in 1535, in Genesis and Exodus about 1250 as Middle English sunnesine; synchronically sun + shine. Compare isolated Old English sunsċīn (“mirror”).

Words formed from sunshine

Phrases with sunshine

13 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about sunshine

What does sunshine mean?
Sunshine means the direct rays, light or warmth of the sun.
What is sunshine in Hindi?
Sunshine in Hindi is धूप (dhūp), सूर्यप्रकाश (sūryaprakāś). See Sunshine meaning in Hindi.
How do you use sunshine in a sentence?
Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get down in the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine
What part of speech is sunshine?
Sunshine can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sunshine?
Sunshine is pronounced /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/.
What is the plural of sunshine?
The plural of sunshine is sunshines.

Words near sunshine in the dictionary

  1. sunshades
  2. sunshaft
  3. sunshafts
  4. sunshield
  5. sunshields
  6. sunshine
  7. sunshine agenda
  8. sunshine agendas
  9. sunshine and kittens
  10. sunshine and lollipops
  11. sunshine and rainbows

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sunshine (page history and authors); Sunshine (page history and authors); sunshine (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sunshine (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sunshine (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sunshine (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-sunshine.ogg.

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