astrophysicist
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Explanation
An astrophysicist is a scientist who specializes in studying space, stars, planets, and the universe. If you want to be an astrophysicist one day, you'll have to pay close attention in your physics class. Today the terms astrophysicist and astronomer tend to be used interchangeably — if you make a career of being an expert on space, you'll need to know a lot about the physics of celestial bodies. The prefix astro- comes from the Greek word astron, "the stars," and physicist is rooted in physics, or "natural science," from ta physika, "the natural things" in Greek.
Vocabulary lists containing astrophysicist
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astro, aster
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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.
They included novelist King, astrophysicist Tyson and numerous book and magazine writers of varied eminence.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026
Its first title, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter,” is expected to be published in May.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026
The famous Miura fold, developed by Japanese astrophysicist Kōryō Miura, folds a sheet of material into parallelograms, allowing it to fold down very compactly.
From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026
Lead author and astrophysicist Kishalay De told AFP the project began as something quite different, a study of stars under infrared light in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.
From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026
I could introduce you to my colleagues, treat you to the best curry outside India, and show you just how boring the life of an astrophysicist can be.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
