# sunset

Pronunciation: say "SUN-set" /ˈsʌnˌsɛt/

## Noun

1. The evening moment when the sun's disk passes completely below the horizon in the west, ending direct daylight.
   - Simple: The time each evening when the sun goes down below the edge of the sky.
   - _They reached the summit just before sunset and paused to rest._
   - _The sunset arrived a little earlier each day as winter approached._
2. The shifting colors of the sky in the period before and after the sun drops below the horizon.
   - Simple: The colors that fill the sky just before and after the sun goes down.
   - _The sunset spread bands of crimson across the evening sky._
   - _Photographers gathered on the ridge to capture the sunset reflected in the bay._
3. The final stage in the life of a person or in the existence of a thing.
   - Simple: The last part of someone's life or of something's existence.
   - _She spent the sunset of her life surrounded by her grandchildren._
   - _The empire entered its sunset, its territories slipping away one by one._
4. A predetermined date on which something, such as a law or agreement, will automatically end.
   - Simple: A fixed date when a rule, law, or program will end.
   - _The agreement includes a sunset, after which all of its terms expire._
   - _Without a sunset, the emergency powers could continue indefinitely._
6. The western region of the sky or land, the quarter where the sun goes down.
   - Simple: The part of the sky or land toward the west, where the sun goes down.
   - _The wagons rolled steadily into the sunset, chasing the open frontier._
   - _Every spring the herds drifted toward the sunset, following the new grass across hundreds of miles of plain._

## Verb

5. To bring a program, policy, or product to a planned end over a set period of time.
   - Simple: To slowly bring a rule, program, or product to a planned end.
   - _Regulators agreed to sunset the subsidy once the industry stabilized._
   - _The agency will sunset several outdated rules during the coming review._

## Origin

From Middle English 'son-sett' or 'Sonne set', equivalent to 'sun' plus 'set', and recorded in Gower's Confessio Amantis before 1393.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sunset (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).