solar flare

noun

: a sudden temporary outburst of energy from a small area of the sun's surface

called also flare

Examples of solar flare in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The team at Queen's University Belfast had focused on a particularly powerful solar flare from 2012, analyzing the density shifts that took place in the atmosphere alongside the flare's own oscillations. Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Apr. 2025 Last weekend, the sun was particularly restless, unleashing eight M-class solar flares between Friday and Monday. Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025 Sunspots produce solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which create the geomagnetic storms here on Earth that cause the aurora to appear. Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 5 Mar. 2025 Unusually, these solar flares didn't come from sunspots — dark patches on the sun's surface indicating intense magnetic activity— but magnetic filaments detaching from the sun. Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for solar flare

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of solar flare was in 1938

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Cite this Entry

“Solar flare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solar%20flare. Accessed 21 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

solar flare

noun
: a sudden temporary outburst of energy from a small area of the sun's surface

More from Merriam-Webster on solar flare

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