sunsets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sunset.

   The desert is known for sunsets that turn the whole sky orange.

   Photographers gather on the cliff to capture the most dramatic sunsets.

   Note

   Counting evenings rather than naming a moment: the plural turns the uncountable sunset of "at sunset" into events you can number and compare, like a desert's famous sunsets. It also counts the colored skies themselves and, figuratively, the closing years of several lives or things. The same spelling is also the verb for phasing out, so in "the program sunsets" the word is a verb, not a plural.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of sunset.

   The agreement sunsets automatically after five years unless both parties renew it.

   The tax credit sunsets in December, prompting a last-minute rush of applications.

   Note

   Here the noun has become a verb of policy. A law, credit or agreement sunsets when it reaches its set end date and lapses. The base verb is transitive, as when a legislature sunsets a program. In this form, though, the subject is often the thing that expires, with no object: the tax credit sunsets in December. The noun keeps the same idea in attributive use, as in a sunset date.

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