Classical Mythology. one of a race of creatures having the head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse.
Astronomy. Centaur, the constellation Centaurus.
a skillful horseman or horsewoman.
Rocketry. Centaur, a U.S. upper stage, with a restartable liquid-propellant engine, used with an Atlas or Titan booster to launch satellites and probes.
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, Old English, from Latin centaurus, from Greek kéntauros
Have you ever seen a centaur at the zoo? I doubt it! It's a mythological creature that's half-man, half- horse. Like elves, trolls, werewolves, zombies, and vampires, the centaur is a mythical creature, specifically a creature equal parts horse and man. This is a little like a mermaid, who is half-fish and half-woman. In case you were wondering, the top half is the man part. Even in the made-up world of mythology, the other way around just wouldn't work.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In automation theory, Doctorow writes, a centaur is “a person who is assisted by a machine.”
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
No one can convince her otherwise, and she decides to win her spouse back with an enchanted robe that the dying centaur Nessus told her was a love charm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
For reasons that have yet to be explained, parts of the centaur head are coated with a thin brown film, as are several other marble fragments from the Parthenon.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 18, 2024
Grover, it turns out, is a satyr, charged with protecting Percy; Mr. Brunner is really a centaur named Chiron.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
It felt as if space were compacting—as if each centaur step took us miles and miles.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
United Launch Alliance, the rocket operator owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has dealt with its own struggles with a new rocket, called Vulcan Centaur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
The venture introduced its new Vulcan Centaur rocket this year, which is partly reusable and lowers launch costs to about $110 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024
The world number three from Northern Ireland overcame Wilson by a score of 4-3 but was left frustrated at the match being staged on table two at the Centaur in Cheltenham.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2024
Rocket Lab is pursuing its own medium-lift rocket called Neutron that would be able to compete with Falcon 9 and ULA’s Vulcan Centaur.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Annie Easley, who had joined the Lewis Laboratory in 1955, was staffed on Project Centaur, developing a rocket stage that was ultimately used in the Atlas.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Mythical hybrid beasts such as mermaids, centaurs and chimeras testify to our enduring fascination with the plasticity of biological form: the idea that natural organisms can mutate or be reconfigured.
From Scientific American ● May 31, 2023
Through the smokescreen of a twisted fantasy teeming with centaurs, robot bandits and talking dogs who eat corpses, Sorokin smuggles in a sly critique of contemporary Russia’s turn toward totalitarianism.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2022
As wonderfully whimsical and weird the show’s world may be, then, Horse and her story — as well as the magical centaurs — remain very much grounded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2021
Not human magic; the world of New Mushroomton, where the film is set, is filled with mythical creatures: Trolls, elves and centaurs are just some of the species that share space with one another.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 4, 2020
She was so inspiring, even the panicked centaurs started to rally.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
Definitions 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.
