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 Did solar flares cause the AT&T and Verizon outage? John Tufts, The Courier-Journal, 22 Feb. 2024 New Year's Eve solar flare is strongest in 6 years Fortunately, Sunday's solar flare didn't come close to that 2003 output. Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 2 Jan. 2024 Three of the strongest solar flares in almost a decade occurred last Wednesday and Thursday, two hours before the nationwide cellular outage that affected tens of thousands of phone customers. Caralin Nunes, The Arizona Republic, 28 Feb. 2024 Online rumors circulated the disruption might've been the result of anything from solar flares to cyber attacks. Joey Garrison, The Courier-Journal, 23 Feb. 2024 And in December, the largest solar flare in six years — that caused problems with airplane radio communications — occurred, sending a burst of radiation hurtling toward Earth. Brie Stimson, Fox News, 11 Feb. 2024 This is what happened after the solar flare of Dec. 14. Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine, 20 Dec. 2023 The solar flare was associated with a partial coronal mass ejection, which is a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field lines from the Sun's corona — the outermost part of its atmosphere. Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 9 May 2023 The smallest solar flares are designated A-class, followed by B, C, M and X, the largest, according to NASA. Katie Hunt, CNN, 24 Apr. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'solar flare.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

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

Dictionary Entries Near solar flare

Cite this Entry

“Solar flare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solar%20flare. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

solar flare

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

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