meteorite

[mee-tee-uh-rahyt]

noun

1. a mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space; a fallen meteoroid.

2. a meteoroid.

meteorite

/ ˌmiːtɪəˈrɪtɪk, ˈmiːtɪəˌraɪt /

noun

1. a rocklike object consisting of the remains of a meteoroid that has fallen on earth. It may be stony (chondrite), iron, or stony iron (pallasite) See chondrite

meteorite

1. A meteor that reaches the Earth's surface because it has not been burned up by friction with the atmosphere. Meteorites are believed to be fragments of comets and asteroids.

2. ◆ Meteorites that consist mostly of silicates are called stony meteorites and are classified as either chondrites or achondrites.

3. ◆ Meteorites that consist mostly of iron are called iron meteorites.

4. ◆ Meteorites that consist of a mixture of silicates and iron are called stony-iron meteorites.

Other Word Forms

• meteoritic adjective
• meteoritical adjective
• meteorital adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of meteorite¹

First recorded in 1815–25; meteor + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Those who made it to the end with him had the choice to return to the real world, where they awoke as survivors of a meteorite impact in Shibuya with no recollection of the Borderlands.

From Salon

The object, which has been named the McDonough meteorite, is the 27th to have been recovered from Georgia.

From BBC

At first, there was a sense of awe surrounding the public display of this extraordinary Martian find – less than 400 of the 50,000 meteorites discovered have been shown to come from our planetary neighbour.

From BBC

Sotheby's auction house described the meteorite, a reddish brown rock, as "unbelievably rare".

From BBC

Wind and other weather data, as well as any information gathered by the UK Fireball Alliance, is used to help work out where meteorites land.

From BBC