ultraviolet
part of speech
adjective (ultraviolet); noun (ultraviolet — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
Ultraviolet (UV) light is a kind of light from the Sun that our eyes cannot see. It can burn the skin and harm the eyes. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons pupils learn that sunlight contains ultraviolet light, which causes sunburn; in health lessons, they learn to protect themselves with sunscreen, hats and sunglasses. In Australia and New Zealand, the UV index tells how strong UV is each day. Phrases: ultraviolet light, UV rays, UV index, UV protection.
examples
- Ultraviolet light from the Sun can burn your skin. tree →
- Sunscreen protects you from ultraviolet rays. tree →
- Check the UV index before you go out. tree →
- Sunglasses with UV protection keep your eyes safe. tree →
- Bees can see ultraviolet light. tree →
- Some special paints glow under ultraviolet light. tree →
note
Often shortened to "UV". "Ultra-" means beyond: ultraviolet is beyond violet in the rainbow. Myth: you can get sunburnt on cloudy days too, because ultraviolet light passes through clouds. Australia and New Zealand teach "Slip, Slop, Slap": slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat.
In the corpora
- Scorpions are arachnids whose outer shell glows blue-green under ultraviolet light; mothers carry their babies on their backs.
- Goldfish have four kinds of colour cells in their eyes, while we have three, and they can see some ultraviolet light.
- Sunlight's ultraviolet rays break dye molecules apart, so curtains and posters fade near a window and museums keep the lights low.
- The Sun gives out invisible ultraviolet, or UV, rays that burn the skin.
- Ultraviolet rays damage skin cells, and repeated sunburn in childhood raises the risk of skin cancer later in life.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ultraviolet» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.