Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe day of the week after Saturday and before Monday.
nounThe first day of the week in many religious traditions, and the seventh day of the week in systems using the ISO 8601 standard; the Christian Sabbath; the Lord's Day; it follows Saturday and precedes Monday.
In most Christian traditions, the day of rest and worship is ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We usually spend our ____ morning having a slow breakfast and reading the local news together today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English Sonday, from Old English sunnandæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *Sunnōn dag (literally “day of the Sun”), equivalent to sun + day, as a calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Sōlis; declared the "venerable day of the sun" by Roman Emperor Constantine on March 7, 321 C.E.
Compare Saterland Frisian Sundai (“Sunday”), German Low German Sünndag, Dutch zondag, West Frisian snein, German Sonntag, Danish søndag.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Every day is like Sunday / Every day is silent and grey"
— 1988, Morrissey, “Everyday Is Like Sunday”, in Viva Hate:
"And after missing a simple header in the first half, the Manchester United striker ensured England topped Group D to set up a quarter-final meeting with Italy in Kiev on Sunday."
— 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
"But on that Sunday it was filled with Episcopalians from around the country who had traveled to South Bend to attend his campaign launch."
— 2019 August 16, Daniel Burke, “How Pete Buttigieg found God”, in CNN, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2021:
"I gave him the switchboard with my love, went down to the Savoy for breakfast and read the Sundays."
— 1974, John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:
"It just wasn't his thing, although he did beautiful Sundays for however long he did them. So as soon as he could, he hired someone to do the Sundays. Karen and I would do some dailies, but we were the Sunday artists."
— 2017, Mark Arnold, Pocket Full of Dennis the Menace: