- a narrow line of light, heat or other energy
- The last of the sun's rays shone on the grass.
- Ultraviolet rays damage the skin.
- The windows were shining in the reflected rays of the setting sun.
Homophones raise | rays | razeraise rays razesee also Blu-ray, cathode ray tube, cosmic rays, gamma rays, X-ray/reɪz//reɪz/- raise verb
- Raise your hand if you know the answer.
- raise noun
- You work so hard, you deserve a raise!
- rays noun (plural of ray)
- Rays of sunlight streamed through the window.
- raze verb
- They used bulldozers to raze entire neighbourhoods.
Extra ExamplesTopics Spacec1, Physics and chemistryc1- A ray of sunlight fell on the table.
- Her brooch caught the rays of the setting sun.
- The moon cast pale rays of light on the ground.
- They basked in sun's warm golden rays.
- When the sun's rays hit the earth, a lot of heat is reflected back into space.
- a blinding ray of light
- a stream sparkling in the rays of the June sun
- creams which filter out the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays
- the dying rays of a winter sun
- the moon's rays filtering through the trees
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- powerful
- blinding
- bright
- …
- emit
- give off
- send out
- …
- filter through something
- pass through something
- penetrate something
- …
- in the rays of
- a ray of light
- a ray of sunlight
- a ray of sunshine
- …
- ray of something a small amount of something good or of something that you are hoping for synonym glimmer
- There was just one small ray of hope.
- The one ray of light in this whole affair is that justice has been done.
- a sea fish with a large broad flat body and a long tail, that is used for foodTopics Fish and shellfishc2
- (also re)(music) the second note of a major scale
Word Originsenses 1 to 2 Middle English: from Old French rai, based on Latin radius ‘spoke, ray’.sense 3 Middle English: from Old French raie, from Latin raia.sense 4 Middle English re, representing (as an arbitrary name for the note) the first syllable of resonare, taken from a Latin hymn.
Idioms
See ray in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee ray in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishcatch/get/grab some rays
- (informal) to sit or lie in the sun, especially in order to get a suntan
a ray of sunshine
- (informal) a person or thing that makes life brighter or more cheerful
- My nephew is a little ray of sunshine.
Check pronunciation:
ray