sunset means the moment each evening when the sun disappears below the western horizon. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 70 out of 100.
sunset is pronounced /ˈsʌnˌsɛt/.
Why “sunset” is a great word
The daily disappearance of the sun below the western horizon. From Middle English *son-sett*, a compound of *sun* and *set* (in the sense ‘to go down’), the word is first attested before 1393 in Gower's *Confessio Amantis*. Unlike “twilight,” which names the lingering, diffuse aftermath of the day, or “sunrise,” its hopeful opposite of genesis, “sunset” is the precise, irrevocable event itself. It is the molten gold bleeding across a sheet of cirrus cloud, the silhouette of a lone tree sharpening against a vermilion wash, and the final, copper coin slipping below a silhouetted hill—a daily rehearsal for every ending we will ever know.
Etymology
From Middle English son-sett, Sonne set, equivalent to sun + set. In Gower's Confessio Amantis, before 1393.
noun
- The moment each evening when the sun disappears below the western horizon.“at sunset”
- The changes in color of the sky before and after sunset.
- The final period of the life of a person or thing.“one's sunset years”
- A set termination date.“The tax increase legislation included a sunset clause requiring renewal to prevent the tax increase from expiring.”
- The region where the sun sets; the west.
verb
- To phase out.“We’ll be sunsetting version 1.9 of the software shortly after releasing version 2.0 next quarter.”