lunar

[ loo-ner ]

/ ˈlu nər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lunar ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of or relating to the moon: the lunar orbit.

measured by the moon's revolutions: a lunar month.

resembling the moon; round or crescent-shaped.

of or relating to silver.

noun

a lunar observation taken for purposes of navigation or mapping.

Nearby words

Origin of lunar

First recorded in 1585–95, lunar is from the Latin word lūnāris of the moon. See Luna, -ar¹

Related formsun·lu·nar, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lunar

Tao Lin charts the path of lunar hamsters in search of some decent wifi sometime in the year 2027.
Crazy Cartography: Artists and Writers Conjure a Slew of Imaginative Maps|Lauren Elkin|April 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Chan was not among the Chinese authors whose opinion on the lunar landing Xinhua reporters sought.
The Year in Chinese Science—And Science Fiction|Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom|December 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar, so it moves back about 10 days each year.
First Friday of Ramadan For Palestinians|Maysoon Zayid|July 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The number of lunar cycles does not correspond easily to the number of seasonal ones.
How Long Is a Year? Is the Earth Slowing Down? And Other Questions About Time|Neil Shubin|January 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST

She just wanted “the bird,” the rocket, to fly, and for Neil to get a chance to plant his moon boot on the lunar surface.
Moon Men: The Private Lives of Neil Armstrong and Pals in “Togethersville”|Lily Koppel|September 1, 2012|DAILY BEAST
He was expert in the use of quadrant and sextant, and could take a lunar observation and work it out with accuracy.
Siam|George B. Bacon
The subject of the lunar librations was treated by Lagrange with great originality in an essay crowned by the Paris Lagrange.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7|Various
English decorators are hopeless; they know as much about decoration as I know about the lunar theory.
The House of Defence v. 1|E. F. Benson
I can navigate, checking the chronometer by lunar observation.
Workhouse Characters|Margaret Wynne Nevinson
By their means they doubtless very soon came to turn (in lunar fashion) the same hemisphere always towards their centre of motion.
A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century|Agnes M. (Agnes Mary) Clerke

British Dictionary definitions for lunar

lunar

/ (ˈluːnə) /

adjective

of or relating to the moon

occurring on, used on, or designed to land on the surface of the moonlunar module

relating to, caused by, or measured by the position or orbital motion of the moon

of or containing silver

Word Origin for lunar

C17: from Latin lūnāris, from lūna the moon

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

Word Origin and History for lunar

lunar

adj.

"crescent-shaped," early 15c.; "pertaining to the moon," 1620s, from Old French lunaire (15c.), from Latin lunaris "of the moon," from luna "moon," (with capital L- "moon goddess"); see Luna.

Medicine definitions for lunar