astro-

American  

1. a combining form with the meaning “pertaining to stars or celestial bodies, or to activities, as spaceflight, taking place outside the earth's atmosphere,” used in the formation of compound words.

   astronautics; astrophotography.

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astro- British  

combining form

1. indicating a heavenly body, star, or star-shaped structure

   astrology

   astrocyte

2. indicating outer space

   astronautics

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astro– Scientific  

1. A prefix that means “star” (as in astrophysics), “celestial body” (as in astronomy), or “outer space” (as in astronaut).

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Usage

What does astro- mean? Astro- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “related to stars, celestial bodies, and outer space.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in—you guessed it—astronomy.Astro- is also sometimes used to refer to something that is star-shaped, as in an astrocyte, a type of star-shaped cell in the brain and spinal cord.Astro- comes from the Greek ástron, meaning “star.” The Greek ástron is also related to such words as asteroid and even the star itself. The word astronomy comes from a Greek word that literally (and poetically) means “star-arranging.”What are variants of astro-?When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, astro- becomes astr-.

Etymology

Origin of astro-

< Greek, combining form of ástron a star, constellation, akin to astḗr star; aster, -aster ²

Example Sentences

Soccer is still silent about the vote because they're too busy planting astro- turf at stadiums where the Women's Team will play.

From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2016

Soccer is still silent about the vote because they're too busy planting astro- turf at stadiums where the Women's Team will play.

From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2016

No group of people live harder and more intimately with this truth than the long-serving crews of astro- and cosmonauts, the expeditionary campers-in-the-stars who man the International Space Station.

From Forbes • Feb. 25, 2015

Cady is one of the leading lights in a brightening field known as astro- or exobiology--the study of how life could form elsewhere in the universe.

From Time Magazine Archive

Antipater, who had an anniversary feast every year upon his birth-day, needed no astro- logical revolution to know what day he should die on.

From Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend by Browne, Thomas, Sir