the limelight
noun
: public attention or notice thought of as a bright light that shines on someone
She is a very private woman who never sought the limelight.
When his new book caused an unexpected controversy, he was thrust into the limelight once again.
He doesn't like having to share the limelight with other actors.
Examples of the limelight in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The distortions of segregation in the South in the forties left their mark, to be sure, but behind his tropism for the limelight, underneath all the braggadocio that is mistaken for arrogance, lies Jesse Louis Jackson's greatest longing in life—the lust for legitimacy.
—
Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Throughout her husband's civil rights career, Jackie Jackson mostly evaded the limelight, but became more active in the media during Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2026
When the world reopened, Liu stepped back into the limelight after a growth spurt that made what once seemed effortless a little trickier.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 16 Feb. 2026
But the third member of the core Potter trio has had a much quieter time spent mostly out of the limelight, and deliberately so.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
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Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Throughout her husband's civil rights career, Jackie Jackson mostly evaded the limelight, but became more active in the media during Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2026
When the world reopened, Liu stepped back into the limelight after a growth spurt that made what once seemed effortless a little trickier.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 16 Feb. 2026
But the third member of the core Potter trio has had a much quieter time spent mostly out of the limelight, and deliberately so.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for the limelight
Cite this Entry
“The limelight.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20limelight. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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