in orbit

Idioms

Thrilled, delighted, as in Dean's in orbit over his son's success. This expression alludes to the successful launching into orbit of a satellite or other spacecraft. [Slang; late 1900s]

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.

SpaceX will have to show growth that exceeds estimates to keep the stock in orbit.

From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026

Once launched, Starship will meet Orion in orbit and remain docked for approximately one day while engineers and astronauts carry out additional testing and system evaluations.

From Science Daily • Jun. 11, 2026

He is now seeking to go public in large part on a sales pitch that SpaceX can build out artificial-intelligence data centers in orbit.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026

At least one member of the crew will spend a full year in orbit as part of a key experiment.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

But much more importantly, it means a precision soft landing can be done remotely by a pilot in orbit.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

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