Noun
an eclipse of the sun
The popularity of television led to the eclipse of the radio drama.
an artist whose reputation has long been in eclipseVerb
The sun was partially eclipsed by the moon.
Train travel was eclipsed by the growth of commercial airlines.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
July begins with the Cancer Sun squaring the lunar nodes on July 2, which marks a sort of stepping stone between eclipses.—Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 June 2024 During the April 2024 eclipse, NASA scientists measured the sun’s radio waves as the moon slipped in front of it.—Aaron Shattuck, Scientific American, 25 June 2024
Verb
San Jose has eclipsed 100 degrees twice in July and 95 degrees another four times.—Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, 23 July 2024 Henry has had at lest 280 carries a season in four of the past five years (and was on pace to eclipse that mark in 2021 before suffering a foot injury that kept him out of the final eight games of the regular season).—Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 19 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for eclipse
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'eclipse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
borrowed from Middle English eclipse, clips, borrowed from Anglo-French eclyps, eclypse, borrowed from Latin eclīpsis, borrowed from Greek ékleipsis "abandonment, failure, cessation, obscuring of a celestial body by another," from ekleípein "to leave out, abandon, cease, die, be obscured (of a celestial body)" (from ek-ec- + leípein "to leave, quit, be missing") + -sis-sis — more at delinquent entry 2
Verb
Middle English eclypsen, clypsen, derivative of eclipseeclipse entry 1, probably after Medieval Latin eclīpsāre or Middle French esclipser
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