sun
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhnIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsʌn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
astronomy
The star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
“The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system.”
The star that is closest to the Earth.
astronomy
Any star around which a planetary system revolves
astronomy
A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system.
The rays of the sun
“The shingles were weathered by the sun and wind.”
The light and heat which are received from the sun; sunshine or sunlight.
verb
Expose one's body to the sun
Expose to the rays of the sun or affect by exposure to the sun
transitive
To expose to the heat and radiation of the sun.
transitive
To warm or dry in the sunshine.
intransitive
To be exposed to the sun.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
Used this way, sun is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
“The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Star / lightnoun
“The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system.”
Raysnoun
“The shingles were weathered by the sun and wind.”
More ways to use sun
- “The shingles were weathered by the sun and wind.”noun
- “The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: expose one's body to the sun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.