sunspot

noun

sun·​spot ˈsən-ˌspät 

: any of the dark spots that appear at times on the sun's surface and are usually visible only through a telescope

Examples of sunspot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

According to the National Weather Service, this is expected to arrive in July this year, with a peak of around 115 sunspots. —Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025

Our sun undergoes an 11-year cycle of magnetic activity, rising from solar minimum when there are hardly any sunspots visible, to solar maximum when there are sunspots, prominences, coronal mass ejections and flares aplenty. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 11 Feb. 2025

Dark shapes called sunspots are seen in both PHI’s visible light image and its magnetic map, shown below. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2024

Tuesday, May 28, 2024: Old sunspot group AR3664, the most active sunspot region of the current solar cycle — the one responsible for the May 2024 solar storms, announced its return in explosive fashion. —Space.com Staff, Space.com, 1 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1676, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sunspot

• allot
• barat
• begot
• besought
• bethought
• bloodshot
• boycott
• buckshot
• crackpot
• croat
• culottes
• dashpot

Kids Definition

sunspot

noun

sun·​spot -ˌspät 

: one of the dark spots that appear from time to time on the sun's surface and are usually visible only through a telescope