interstellar
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of interstellar
Explanation
If something happens or is located in between stars, it's interstellar. If you dream of interstellar travel, you're imagining flying through space — and maybe meeting a few extraterrestrials along the way. The area inside a galaxy is often referred to by astronomers as interstellar space. In fact, the adjective interstellar is frequently used in a general way as a synonym for "outer space" or "between solar systems." So if an astronaut is planning an interstellar trip, she may be traveling in space, but she's not literally making a journey from one star to another. The roots of interstellar are inter-, "between," and the Latin stella, or "star."
Vocabulary lists containing interstellar
Oh, My Stars! The Language of Outer Space
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Oh, My Stars! A Solstice Sampler
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Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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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.
The climactic section “Cosmic Bloom,” a flashy interstellar big bang, doesn’t transcend the sum of its parts as it was meant to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
The dark nebula is made from interstellar dust dense enough to block starlight and is 650 light years away.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Green lanterns are interstellar peacekeepers who wear rings that give them extraordinary powers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
It does not include nonradiative effects such as collisions and drag from interstellar gas or dust.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
I wasn’t sure how,the aliens were going to answer an open-ended question, especially since they’d never answered me before, but they were capable of interstellar travel; providing me with a date should have been cake.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
