exploding star

British

noun

an irregular variable star, such as a nova, supernova, or flare star, in which rapid increases in luminosity occur, caused by some form of explosion

"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

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.

Astronomers have, for the first time, detected radio waves coming from an unusually rare kind of exploding star.

From Science Daily • Jan. 28, 2026

The burst of light, spotted in 2022, is now known to have had an exploding star at its heart, researchers say.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2024

A little more than 969 years ago—on July 4, 1054, to be more precise—the light from one of the universe’s most energetic and violent events reached Earth: a supernova, or exploding star.

From Scientific American • Nov. 10, 2023

A leading hypothesis is that the solar system began as a massive cloud of interstellar dust and gas that collapsed, perhaps from the shockwave of a supernova triggered by an exploding star.

From Salon • Feb. 16, 2023

I imagined that parts of my insides and parts of her insides may have come from the same exploding star, billions of years ago.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023