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Monoceros

American  
[muh-nos-er-uhs] / məˈnɒs ər əs /

noun

Astronomy.
  • Monocerotis
    genitive
  1. the Unicorn, a constellation south of Gemini and east of Orion.


Monoceros British  
/ məˈnɒsərəs /

noun

  1. a faint constellation on the celestial equator crossed by the Milky Way and lying close to Orion and Canis Major

"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

Etymology

Origin of Monoceros

C14: via Old French from Latin: unicorn, from Greek monokeros with a single horn, from mono- + keras horn


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.

See Examples For:

It lies within the faint but imaginative constellation Monoceros, which represents a unicorn in star maps.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 25, 2025

Not to worry, however: This black hole is 1,600 light-years away, in the constellation Ophiuchus; the next nearest known black hole is about 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros.

From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2022

The alpha Monocerotids have been dubbed unicorn meteors because they radiate from the constellation Monoceros, the Greek word for unicorn, according to EarthSky.

From Fox News ● Nov. 21, 2019

The alpha Monocerotids — named after the constellation Monoceros or the Unicorn — most recently produced an outburst in 1995.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2019

We see now the greatest extent of the Milky Way, towards this part of its length, ever visible in our latitudes—just as in spring we see its greatest extent towards Monoceros and Argo.

From Half-hours with the Telescope Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction. by Richard A. (Richard Anthony) Proctor

Above S Monocerotis, a group of young stars forms a simple triangular pattern.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 25, 2025

The Christmas Tree Star Cluster Near the center of NGC 2264 is S Monocerotis, a bright variable star whose brightness changes over time.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 25, 2025

In an April 22 Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait misstated that a cloud of dust around the star V838 Monocerotis is seen to visibly expand.

From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2015

Visible only through powerful tele scopes, the star R Monocerotis glows faintly in the constellation of Unicorn.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is No. 22 of Sir William Herschel’s 6th class, and will be found about 3 degrees south and a little east of the triple star 29 Monocerotis.

From Astronomical Curiosities Facts and Fallacies by J. Ellard Gore

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