sunset

From Middle English son-sett, Sonne set, equivalent to sun +‎ set. In Gower's Confessio Amantis, before 1393.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌnˌsɛt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

sunset (countable and uncountable, plural sunsets)

1. The time of day when the sun disappears below the western horizon.
2. The changes in color of the sky at sunset.
3. (figuratively) The final period of the life of a person or thing.
   • Campbell

     'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore.

   one's sunset years

4. (attributively) Having a set termination date.

   The tax increase legislation included a sunset clause requiring renewal to prevent the tax increase from expiring.

5. The region where the sun sets; the west.

• (time): dusk, sundown (US), nightfall, twilight
• (change in color of the sky at sunset):
• (final period of life): end, final act, swansong
• (attributively: of or relating to the final period of life): last, terminal, twilight

• sunrise

• sunset clause
• sunset crop
• sunset industry
• sunset shell
• sunsetty
• sunset years

sunset (third-person singular simple present sunsets, present participle sunsetting, simple past and past participle sunsetted)

1. (business, politics, transitive) To phase out.

   We'll be sunsetting version 1.9 of the software shortly after releasing version 2.0 next quarter.

• moonset

• unsets