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View synonyms for asteroid

asteroid

[ as-tuh-roid ]

noun

  1. Astronomy. any of millions of small celestial objects revolving around the sun, often irregularly shaped and having a great range in size, from as small as 6 feet (2 meters) across to about 620 miles (998 kilometers) across: the vast majority of known asteroids exist within the asteroid belt. small solar system body.
  2. Zoology. a starfish; an asteroidean.


adjective

asteroid

/ ˈæstəˌrɔɪd /

noun

  1. Also calledminor planetplanetoid any of numerous small celestial bodies that move around the sun mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Their diameters range from 930 kilometres (Ceres) to less than one kilometre
  2. Also calledasteroideanˌæstəˈrɔɪdɪən any echinoderm of the class Asteroidea; a starfish
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


adjective

  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the class Asteroidea
  2. shaped like a star
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

asteroid

/ ăstə-roid′ /

  1. Any of numerous small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun primarily in the asteroid belt , a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are intermediate in size between planets and meteoroids with diameters that measure between approximately one hundred and several hundred kilometers. While more than 1,800 asteroids have been cataloged, and as many as a million or more smaller ones may exist, their total mass has been estimated to be less than three percent of the Moon's. Asteroids are thought to be left over from the early formation of the solar system, when planetesimals in a protoplanetary disk were scattered after coming under Jupiter's gravitational influence. The continuing collision of planetesimals that remained between Jupiter and Mars caused many of them to fragment, creating the asteroids that exist today.
  2. Also called minor planet planetoid


asteroid

  1. A small planet that revolves around the sun . The largest asteroid is only about six hundred miles in diameter . ( See asteroid belt .)


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Other Words From

  • as·ter·oi·dal adjective
  • in·ter·as·ter·oi·dal adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of asteroid1

First recorded in 1795–1805; from Greek asteroeidḗs “starry, starlike”; star, -oid
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Word History and Origins

Origin of asteroid1

C19: from Greek asteroeidēs starlike, from astēr a star
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Example Sentences

Perhaps, Carr and a few others have imagined, LUCA was the descendent of microbial Martian invaders traveling by asteroid.

The analogs in the solar system are all asteroid-sized bodies much less massive than Earth.

As he sorts through it, Genge could conceivably come across a speck of 6626 Mattgenge, an 8-kilometer-wide asteroid near Mars named in his honor for his contributions to the study of cosmic dust.

Although the company has struggled, Bezos has invested to the tune of $1 billion a year in the company and rhapsodizes about a future in which humans live in massive habitats in orbit and mine asteroids.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission successfully touched down on the asteroid Bennu and collected an overflowing amount of material to bring back to Earth.

What would it take to carry people to the Moon, or Mars, or an asteroid?

Thinking of longer journeys to Mars or an asteroid would require careful measurement of conditions.

His game lasts until his final ship has either collided with an asteroid or lost a shootout with an enemy saucer.

The Asteroid Belt in the Solar System has many such gaps, created by the gravity of the Sun and Jupiter.

For the record, Deep Impact is about a comet, not an asteroid.

According to Boyle, a non-luminous and non-reflecting asteroid has crashed into the earth's gravitational field.

In the early afternoon they came to what must be the asteroid's northern pole.

It always landed on the plain where Parr had first set foot to the asteroid.

"They were inside this asteroid," decided Parr, half to himself.

"For getting away, for giving freedom to my only friends on this asteroid," said Parr.

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