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• meteor
  meteor
• meteor.
  meteor.

  abbreviation

  meteorological.

meteor

¹ American  

[mee-tee-er, -awr] / ˈmi ti ər, -ˌɔr /

noun

• meteors
  plural

1. Astronomy.

   1. a meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere.

   2. a transient fiery streak in the sky produced by a meteoroid passing through the earth's atmosphere; a shooting star or bolide.

2. any person or object that moves, progresses, becomes famous, etc., with spectacular speed.

3. (formerly) any atmospheric phenomenon, as hail or a typhoon.

4. Military. Meteor, Britain's first operational jet fighter, a twin-engine aircraft that entered service in 1944.

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meteor. ² American  

abbreviation

1. meteorological.

2. meteorology.

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meteor British  

/ ˈmiːtɪə /

noun

1. a very small meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere. Such objects have speeds approaching 70 kilometres per second

2. Also called: shooting star.   falling star.  the bright streak of light appearing in the sky due to the incandescence of such a body heated by friction at its surface

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meteor Scientific  

/ mē′tē-ər /

1. A bright trail or streak of light that appears in the night sky when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere. The friction with the air causes the rock to glow with heat.

2. Also called shooting star

3. A rocky body that produces such light. Most meteors burn up before reaching the Earth's surface.

4. See Note at solar system

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meteor Cultural  

1. A streak of light in the sky, often called a “shooting star,” that occurs when a bit of extraterrestrial matter falls into the atmosphere of the Earth and burns up.

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Usage

What is a meteor? A meteor is space matter that has entered Earth’s atmosphere, as in I was able to see a meteor enter our atmosphere last night through my telescope. A meteor is also the bright, fiery streak that is visible in the sky when a meteor burns up. Meteors are often referred to as shooting stars or falling stars. Simply put, a meteor is a meteoroid that has entered Earth’s atmosphere. A meteoroid is a small body of matter usually composed of dust or rock that travels through outer space. A meteor that reaches Earth’s surface is called a meteorite. Meteor is sometimes used figuratively to mean something that moves or advances at high speed, as in The new rock band was a meteor that shot up the charts. The adjective meteoric describes something involved with or related to a meteor. Meteoric is also used to describe something that resembles a meteor in terms of brightness or speed, as in We were amazed by her meteoric rise to stardom in Hollywood. A large number of meteors traveling through Earth’s surface at one time is called a meteor shower. Example: She took great pictures of last night’s meteor as it zoomed across the sky.

Discover More

Meteor showers occur at regular times during the year.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• meteorlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• meteors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of meteor

First recorded in 1570–80; from New Latin meteōrum, from Greek metéōron “meteor, a thing in the air,” noun use of neuter of metéōros “raised in the air,” equivalent to met- met- + eōr- (variant stem of aeírein “to raise”) + -os adjective suffix

Explanation

A meteor is a space rock that hits Earth's atmosphere. It's also another word for a shooting star — which is not a star at all, but a streak of light visible in the sky when a meteor burns up in the atmosphere. There are a lot of large objects in space: stars, planets, and moons. There are smaller bodies, too, such as meteoroids — small chunks of rock or metal orbiting the sun. When a meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. This word is also used for the streak of light caused when this happens, commonly called a shooting star. Sometimes there are meteor showers, when Earth passes through a trail of space objects that then burn up due to friction with Earth's atmosphere.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meteor meteor. meteors

"And just after the sun sets, the Perseid meteor shower will peak and the sky will be incredibly dark with 50 to 100 meteors every hour."

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Visitors are encouraged to stay after the partial solar eclipse to watch the Perseids meteor shower.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Several hours later, the Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak later in the night, and overnight into Thursday.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Later on Aug. 12, the Perseid meteor shower will begin its peak, continuing into the early morning of Aug. 13.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

Maybe Libby wasn’t lying about the meteor shower after all, or can sense things about the future that even I can’t.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

“In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs — we are the meteor. We are not only in danger — we are the danger. But we are also the solution.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

A bolide is the only noisy type of meteor.*

From Time Magazine Archive

This consequence is so dependant, that Fromondus De meteor. l.

From The Discovery of a World in the Moone Or, A Discovrse Tending To Prove That 'Tis Probable There May Be Another Habitable World In That Planet by John Wilkins

Another proof of Athene's connection with storm is the miracle she works when she sets a flame to fly from the head of Diomede or of Achilles,*** or fleets from the sky like a meteor.****

From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang

"And just after the sun sets, the Perseid meteor shower will peak and the sky will be incredibly dark with 50 to 100 meteors every hour."

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

As that debris enters our planet's atmosphere, it burns up and creates spectacular streaks of light - meteors.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Because the New Moon also arrives on Aug. 12, moonlight will not interfere, creating ideal dark conditions for spotting meteors.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

"Carbonaceous chondrites of the Ornans class are definitely not like the typical meteors you find in museum collections," says Dr. Philippe Claeys, who worked on the study as a visiting professor at UBC.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026

The stars poured over his sight like flaming meteors.

From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

Related Words

• meteoroid
• shooting star