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# sunbeam

«sunbeam» in Mova's school dictionary: **a ray or narrow beam of sunlight, especially one you can…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a sunbeam, sunbeams)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sunbeam is a ray or narrow beam of sunlight, especially one you can see shining through a gap, a window or clouds. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#m1)

2) (informal, UK) «Ray of sunshine» or «sunbeam» can be a fond name for a cheerful child. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons sunbeams show that light travels in straight lines; you can see the beam because dust or water droplets scatter the light. In stories sunbeams make scenes warm and hopeful. Phrases: «a sunbeam through the window», «dust dancing in a sunbeam».

### examples

- The cat lay asleep in a warm sunbeam. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x1)
- Dust danced in the sunbeam from the window. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x2)
- Sunbeams broke through the clouds after the storm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x3)
- A sunbeam shows that light travels in straight lines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x4)
- We could see sunbeams shining down through the forest trees. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x5)
- «Morning, sunbeam!» said Nan when I came down to breakfast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/#x6)

### note

Countable: a sunbeam, sunbeams. One word. You see a beam only when tiny bits in the air, like dust or mist, scatter the light into your eyes. Never look straight at the sun.

### In the corpora

- [Toad: «Me complain of that beautiful, that heavenly vision ... that swan, that sunbeam, that thunderbolt! ...](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/34/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sunbeam» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sunbeam/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.