meteoroid

American  

[mee-tee-uh-roid] / ˈmi ti əˌrɔɪd /

noun

Astronomy.

1. any of the small bodies, often remnants of comets, traveling through space: when such a body enters the earth's atmosphere it is heated to luminosity and becomes a meteor.

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meteoroid British  

/ ˈmiːtɪəˌrɔɪd /

noun

1. any of the small celestial bodies that are thought to orbit the sun, possibly as the remains of comets. When they enter the earth's atmosphere, they become visible as meteors

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meteoroid Scientific  

/ mē′tē-ə-roid′ /

1. A small, rocky or metallic body revolving in interplanetary space around the Sun. A meteoroid is significantly smaller than an asteroid, ranging from small grains or particles to the size of large boulders. The clustered meteoroids associated with regular annual meteor showers are believed to be very small particles of cometary debris. Meteoroids that survive their passage through the Earth's atmosphere and land as meteorites are somewhat larger, solitary bodies and are encountered in no predictable pattern.

2. See Note at meteor

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Other Word Forms

• meteoroidal adjective

Etymology

Origin of meteoroid

First recorded in 1860–65; meteor + -oid

Example Sentences

But on other worlds, it’s more typical to find metamorphic rocks forged in the split-second shock of a meteoroid impact.

From National Geographic • Oct. 12, 2023

The meteoroid appeared so enormous they are sure they heard it roaring across the heavens.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2023

The compressed air starts to glow, and when it reaches a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Celsius, the solid material in the meteoroid starts to vaporize.

From Scientific American • Sep. 8, 2023

One temblor was caused by a marsquake — an earthquake on Mars, that is — while the other came from a large meteoroid impact.

From Salon • Apr. 25, 2023

We wandered over to the first area—Space Is Dangerous—and watched a video of a hole being blown through a thick metal plate by a simulated meteoroid.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas