sunlight

plural sunlights

1. countableuncountableAll the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun; especially, that in the visible spectrum and that bathes the Earth.

   Meronym: sunbeams

   4 more examples

   Near-synonym: daylight

   Sunlight on the skin gives you vitamin D.

   The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

   2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55

   Instead of using unpolarized sunlight as my light source and then filtering it with a polarizer, I can just use my screen as a source of polarized light.

   2013 July 16, skullsinthestars, “Simple fun with polarizers!”, in Skulls in the Stars

   Synonyms: daylight, daylight, sun, sunshine

2. countablefigurativelyuncountableBrightness, hope; a positive outlook.

   Synonyms: sunshine, sunniness, hope, optimism

3. countableuncountableSynonym of sunrise.

   Synonyms: daylight, daybreak, dayspring, dawn, ass crack of dawn, break, break of dawn, break of day

4. attributivecountableuncountableSynonym of photic (“describing that part of the near-surface ocean in which photosynthesis is possible.”).

   sunlight zone

   Synonyms: photic

present singular third person sunlights · participle present sunlighting · participle past sunlighted · past sunlighted

1. To work on the side (at a secondary job) during the daytime.