sunflower
Americannoun
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sunflowers
plural
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any of various composite plants of the genus Helianthus, as H. annuus, having showy, yellow-rayed flower heads often 12 inches (30 centimeters) wide, and edible seeds that yield an oil with a wide variety of uses: the state flower of Kansas.
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Also called aster. Furniture. a conventionalized flower motif carved in the center panels of a Connecticut chest.
noun
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any of several American plants of the genus Helianthus, esp H. annuus, having very tall thick stems, large flower heads with yellow rays, and seeds used as food, esp for poultry: family Asteraceae (composites) See also Jerusalem artichoke
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the oil extracted from sunflower seeds, used as a salad oil, in the manufacture of margarine, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sunflower
First recorded in 1555–65; translation of Latin flōs sōlis “flower of the sun”
Vocabulary lists containing sunflower
Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Winterich kept otherwise ordinary gifts — including a sunflower mug chosen because her mother knew yellow was her favorite color, because her mother would never give her another one.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
“I was almost like a sunflower, constantly facing and chasing actor Jeon.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Kernel, a leading sunflower oil and grain exporter, also halted its operations at Chornomorsk as the Russian attacks escalated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The drone eventually crashed into a sunflower field, Radev said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
Father then led us to a sunflower field with stalks taller than my brothers and me, even taller than him.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
A field of unharvested sunflowers had attracted mixed flocks of birds, especially goldfinches and bramblings, before they were startled into the air by a sparrowhawk.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The pictures Cooley took on Ragusa’s property were of rows of pink and purple native flowers and sunflowers set amid city lights and a dreamy sunset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Even more surprising were the endless fields of corn, rapeseed and sunflowers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
And so the same peloton will be hurtling along the cobbles a couple of months before gliding through the sunflowers of a French summer.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
It wasn't just the idea of the feet-less fowl that was causing her distress; she now saw sunflowers for sale in tubs in almost all of the stalls.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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