🌇 Evening sun disappears 🛑 To end officially 📉 In decline ⏳ Ends automatically

sunset

7.5

An industry or product that is declining and likely to disappear

adjective
/ˈsʌnˌsɛt/

: en declive

The decline of the printing press shows that it is a sunset technology, rapidly being replaced by digital media.

Examples

Experts predict that coal mining will soon be a sunset industry as renewable energy takes over.
Many believe that traditional retail stores are becoming a sunset industry due to the rise of e-commerce.
We will also keep these measures under constant review, including a four week sunset clause for interventions in very high areas.
It was nearly sunset, and everything was very calm.

Fiction book (1990)

Synonyms

obsolescent

vssunset

1 8.4

Gradually becoming out of date and not used much

is already declining and likely to disappear soon

Antonyms

growth

∞ 1.6

An increase in size, number, or importance of something

expansion

241 3.3

An increase in size, amount, or range

Idioms

into the sunset

Literature

12 6.0

To move toward a happy, peaceful future, often at the end of a story

to ride off into the sunset

Informal

3 6.5

Leave a situation happily to begin a new life

to drive off into the sunset

Informal

1 6.5

Leave a place happily at the end of a story or event

Compounds

beautiful sunset

5 1.0

A bright, colorful view of the sun going below the horizon

How Viable

booming

1 3.4

growing

1 1.7

mature

64 3.4

sunset

7.5

dying

1 2.4

obsolete

93 5.8

Surface Forms

sunset positive

Morphology

sunset = sunset (semi-transparent) = sun + set

The literal noun 'sunset' is transparently formed from 'sun' + 'set'.

Etymology

Sunset used for an industry comes from the picture of the sun 'going down', meaning 'decline' or end, so a 'sunset' industry is one that is no longer growing and may disappear.