Sunday

The first day of the week in many religious traditions, and the seventh day of the week in systems using the ISO 8601 standard; the Christian Sabbath; the Lord's Day; it follows Saturday and precedes Monday.

Adverb

  1. On Sunday.

Origin

From Middle English Sonday, from Old English sunnandæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *Sunnōn dag (literally “day of the Sun”), equivalent to sun + day, as a calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Sōlis; declared the "venerable day of the sun" by Roman Emperor Constantine on March 7, 321 C.E. Compare Saterland Frisian Sundai (“Sunday”), German Low German Sünndag, Dutch zondag, West Frisian snein, German Sonntag, Danish søndag.

Noun

  1. The first day of the week in many religious traditions, and the seventh day of the week in systems using the ISO 8601 standard; the Christian Sabbath; the Lord's Day; it follows Saturday and precedes Monday.
    • Every day is like Sunday / Every day is silent and grey - 1988, Morrissey, “Everyday Is Like Sunday”, in Viva Hate:
    • And after missing a simple header in the first half, the Manchester United striker ensured England topped Group D to set up a quarter-final meeting with Italy in Kiev on Sunday. - 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England...
    • But on that Sunday it was filled with Episcopalians from around the country who had traveled to South Bend to attend his campaign launch. - 2019 August 16, Daniel Burke, “How Pete Buttigieg found God”, in CNN, archived...

    Synonyms: First Day

  2. A newspaper published on Sunday.
    • I gave him the switchboard with my love, went down to the Savoy for breakfast and read the Sundays. - 1974, John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:
  3. A comic strip published in a Sunday newspaper.
    • It just wasn't his thing, although he did beautiful Sundays for however long he did them. So as soon as he could, he hired someone to do the Sundays. Karen and I would do some dailies, but we were the Sunday artists. -...
  4. Describes someone who does something occasionally or casually, and therefore without skill.
    • Your face is the color of a Sunday swimmer who swallowed half the pool. - 2010 November 9, Rosemary Wells, On the Blue Comet, Candlewick Press, →ISBN, page 113:
    • My limbs felt hollow, empty. Empty, empty, empty. A Sunday cyclist on a casual ride could have passed me. - 2010 March 30, Lance Armstrong, Every Second Counts, Random House, →ISBN, page 51:
    • Below, a Sunday painter dabs at a canvas near the Pont Neuf, his suit as natty as any Landru wore. He tilts his bowler hat and steps back to view his efforts. 'What is a Sunday painter?' Matisse says aloud. 'When we...
  5. Describes something particularly fine and elegant, particularly something that could be worn to or used at church.
    • His father replies with a special tone of voice (his 'Sunday voice', which he also used for reading fairy tales): 'That is about the tragedy of human beings!' - 2002, Emanuel Zeylmans, Willem Zeylmans Van Emmichoven: An...
    • It landed on the wire mesh in front of me, thrust its thin, monkey-arm through the wire, seized my Sunday hat, blue satin ribbons, rosettes and all, and squealing in triumph made off with it, leaping and bounding, to...
    • On the day of the show I decided to wear my good blue Sunday suit, even though Ms. Arnoldi had prescribed flannel shirts, boots, and jeans for all the boys. - 2011 April 29, Tommy Chamberlain, A Spoon Full of Sugar,...

Forms

Sundays

Synonyms

Sun Sun. the Lord's day

Hypernyms

day

Hyponyms

Albless Sunday Alb Sunday Antipascha Sunday Ascension Sunday Black Sunday Bloody Sunday Branch Sunday cannonball Sunday Cantate Sunday Care Sunday Carling Sunday Chestnut Sunday Christmas Sunday Cold Sunday Communion Sunday Divine Mercy Sunday Easter Sunday Expectation Sunday Fast Sunday Fig Sunday Flowering Sunday Garland Sunday Gaudete Sunday God's Sunday

Derived

any given Sunday month of Sundays never in a month of Sundays Smonday sundae Sundaily Sunday baby Sunday beer Sunday best Sunday child Sunday Christian Sunday church Sunday closing law Sunday clothes Sunday comics Sunday Creek Sunday dinner Sunday driver Sundayed Sunday face Sundayfied Sunday funnies Sunday-going Sunday-go-to-meeting

Verb

  1. To spend Sunday (at a certain place, with a certain person or people, etc.).
    • I waded through accounts of new calves and colts, new fences and barns, who “Sundayed” with his brother, etc., and soon had a list of all the cases in that part of the country. - 1910, Arthur B. Reeve, The Silent...
    • The dogs and I were Sundaying on the garden lawn. - 1944, Emily Carr, “Kipling”, in The House of All Sorts:
    • 2016, Brian Finnegan, “Your Sunday Best,” in totallydublin.ie, When we’re Sundaying in the city, I like nothing better than to roll out of bed and head straight for Noshington on the corner of South Circular Road and...

Forms

Sundays Sundaying Sundayed