globular
Americanadjective
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globe-shaped; spherical.
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composed of or having globules.
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worldwide; global.
adjective
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shaped like a globe or globule
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having or consisting of globules
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of globular
Explanation
Something that's globular is round or spherical, like the big, globular heads your little brother adds when he's molding little people out of clay. Globular, "globe-shaped," comes from the Latin globus, "round mass or sphere." This adjective shows up a lot in scientific writing, including to describe a rounded mass of stars bound together by gravity — a globular cluster, or in astronomy shorthand, a globular. Strictly speaking, anything that's round is globular, from a tennis ball to the moon.
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.
Researchers have now shown for the first time that a globular cluster stellar stream can be used to investigate dark matter in a galaxy beyond the Milky Way.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Astronomers have identified dozens of streams produced by globular clusters inside the Milky Way.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Astronomers have identified around 150 globular clusters orbiting the outskirts of our galaxy.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
This image is part of a Hubble Treasury program that is surveying approximately half of the Milky Way's known globular clusters.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
But there is a continuous gradation from triple systems through loose clusters of a few dozen stars to the great globular clusters, resplendent with a million suns.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
