astrophysicist
Americannoun
-
astrophysicists
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected 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
Words from "The Avengers"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
astro, aster
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Workshop 5, Part 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
“In my opinion, we are operating at the maximum density that can be safely operated,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who maintains a widely cited catalog of objects in space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
The event starts at 18:15 and features a talk by astrophysicist Dr Emily Brunsden.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
"I have Sir Isaac Newton's personal assurance that it did indeed hit the moon, there's no way for it to have escaped," Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and space analyst, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
A new model from Caltech theoretical astrophysicist Jim Fuller suggests that this transformation may be far less orderly than it appears.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
“She’s the astrophysicist who confirmed the existence of dark matter,” I said, “the invisible stuff that makes up the universe.”
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Some astrophysicists have suggested the signal may simply be noise within LIGO's extremely sensitive detectors rather than evidence of a remarkable new discovery.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
The “NOVA” presentation, bookended by takeoff and splashdown footage, isn’t for astrophysicists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
He hired astrophysicists, cryptographers and speech-recognition experts — no Wall Street experience allowed.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 15, 2025
With his passing on Tuesday, India lost one of its most celebrated astrophysicists.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Some astrophysicists believe that a little more squeezing makes the neutrons break down into their component quarks, creating a quark star.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
