solstice

noun

sol·stice ˈsäl-stəs

ˈsōl-,

ˈsȯl-

: either of the two points on the ecliptic at which its distance from the celestial equator is greatest and which is reached by the sun each year about June 21 and December 21

: the time of the sun's passing a solstice which occurs about June 21 to begin summer in the northern hemisphere and about December 21 to begin winter in the northern hemisphere

Did you know?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice usually occurs on June 20 or 21 and the winter solstice on December 21 or 22. In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed, the solstices are exactly the opposite. For several days around the time of the solstices, the sun's appearance on the horizon at sunrise and sunset seems to occur at the same spot, before it starts drifting to the north or south again. Solstice gets its shine from sol, the Latin word for "sun." The ancients added sol to -stit- (a participial stem of sistere, which means "to stand still") and came up with solstitium. Middle English speakers shortened solstitium to solstice in the 14th century.

Examples of solstice in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In contrast to equinoxes, solstices mark the arrival of the winter and summer and signal the longest or shortest days of the year. —

Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 19 Sep. 2023 As the summer solstice arrives this year, however, there is no sign of a similar increase thus far. —

Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2023 The summer solstice, which marked the beginning of the summer, fell on June 21 in Arizona. —

Elena Santa Cruz, The Arizona Republic, 5 Sep. 2023 Burning Man began as a celebration of the summer solstice with a small effigy on the foggy shores of Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1986. —

Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2023 For the summer solstice, the students planned a Mediterranean feast, complete with homemade pita bread, falafel, and ornamental flower crowns woven from wildflowers. —

Maliya Ellis, BostonGlobe.com, 2 July 2023 The North Pole is tipped most toward the sun during the solstice in late June—the one day out of every year in which the sun is highest and spends the most time above the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. —

Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 June 2023 Archaeologists in the Netherlands have discovered a 4,000-year-old ritual site—and like Stonehenge in Britain, it was used to track the summer and winter solstices. —

Christopher Parker, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 June 2023 The amount of daylight will continue to decrease each day until Dec. 21 when the winter solstice arrives and the amount of daylight shifts again. —

Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, 28 Aug. 2023 See More

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