- inflammation of the skin caused by overexposure to the sun
- another word for suntan
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
sun•burn /ˈsʌnˌbɜrn/USA pronunciation
n., v., -burned or -burnt, -burn•ing.
n.
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026n.
- Pathologyreddened, sore, and peeling skin caused by overexposure to the sun or a sunlamp: [countable]a bad sunburn from a day at the beach.[uncountable]some soothing lotion for sunburn.
v.
- Pathology(of the skin) to (cause to) become reddened, sore, and peeling from overexposure to the sun: [no object]Her fair skin sunburns easily in the African sun.[~ + object]The African summer will sunburn her quickly.
sun•burn
(sun′bûrn′),USA pronunciation n., v., -burned or -burnt, -burn•ing.
n.
v.t., v.i.,
n.
- Pathologyinflammation of the skin caused by overexposure to the sun or a sunlamp.
v.t., v.i.,
- Pathologyto affect or be affected with sunburn:An hour in the sun sunburned me severely. I sunburn easily.
- sun + burn1 1520–30
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
sunburn /ˈsʌnˌbɜːn/ n
'sunburned' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):