neptune
any whelk of the genus Neptunea, especially N. decemcostata, common along the eastern coast of North America and having a shell with seven to ten raised reddish-brown spiral ridges on a pale beige or yellow background.
Origin of neptune
1Words Nearby neptune
Other definitions for Neptune (2 of 2)
the ancient Roman god of the sea, identified with the Greek god Poseidon.
the sea or ocean: Neptune's mighty roar.
Astronomy. the planet eighth in order from the sun, having an equatorial diameter of 30,200 miles (48,600 km), a mean distance from the sun of 2794.4 million miles (4497.1 million km), a period of revolution of 164.81 years, and two moons.
a township in E New Jersey.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use neptune in a sentence
She was brilliant and, though forbidden from studying, somehow knew there was something up in the heavens, which turned out to be neptune, for whose discovery she received no credit.
Meet the forgotten rebels and quiet revolutionaries of women’s history | Lisa Birnbach | March 5, 2021 | Washington PostThe next planet out has a density like neptune’s, about one-third Earth’s density.
Two exoplanet families redefine what planetary systems can look like | Lisa Grossman | February 5, 2021 | Science NewsOn neptune, by comparison, the gas layer only accounts for 5 to 15 percent of its total mass.
Spacey ‘super puffs’ are changing our understanding of how planets form | Neel Dhanesha | January 20, 2021 | Popular-ScienceTo get neptune moving in precisely that way would have taken a serious jolt, likely a close encounter with another planet of perhaps comparable mass.
Neptune’s bumpy childhood could reveal our solar system’s missing planets | Charlie Wood | January 8, 2021 | Popular-ScienceNear collisions between planets end with Jupiter sending Uranus or neptune flying in 99 simulations out of 100.
Lakes on Titan are full of methane, and the chemical is a major component of the giant planets Jupiter, neptune, and so forth.
For you, Saturn trining neptune is a wake-up call to document ideas, first, and then punt them out into the universe.
But the opposition of Mars and neptune indicates that the symptom is the cause.
Mercury squaring neptune, later in the week, makes you hyper-realistic, if to a fault.
A Mars-neptune opposition assures that current naysayers will end up kissing your ring.
Reckoning that neptune is the outermost planet of the solar system, that system would have a diameter of 5,584 millions of miles.
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordThe captain immediately went on deck, and neptune hailed from the fore part of the rigging, "What ship?"
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil | Maria GrahamStrange to say, the dog neptune was the only one on board that appeared to mourn the loss of this passenger.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands | R.M. BallantyneTell mother not to be uneasy on that point, for though neptune has the heart of a lion he has the temper of a lamb.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands | R.M. BallantyneOur main radio is dead without fuel to run its dynamotors, and our auxiliary set hasn't the power to reach neptune.
The Sargasso of Space | Edmond Hamilton
British Dictionary definitions for Neptune (1 of 2)
/ (ˈnɛptjuːn) /
the Roman god of the sea: Greek counterpart: Poseidon
British Dictionary definitions for Neptune (2 of 2)
/ (ˈnɛptjuːn) /
the eighth planet from the sun, having fourteen known satellites, the largest being Triton and Nereid, and a faint planar system of rings or ring fragments. Mean distance from sun: 4497 million km; period of revolution around sun: 164.8 years; period of rotation: 14 to 16 hours; diameter and mass: 4.0 and 17.2 times that of earth respectively
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
Scientific definitions for Neptune
[ nĕp′tōōn′ ]
The eighth planet from the Sun and the fourth largest, with a diameter almost four times that of Earth. Neptune is a gas giant with a very active weather system, exhibiting extremely long and powerful storms with the fastest winds observed in the solar system. Neptune's axis is tilted 28.8° from the plane of its orbit, and its summer and winter seasons each last 40 years. For a period of 20 years out of every 248, Pluto's highly elliptical orbit crosses within that of Neptune. Neptune has four faint rings and 13 known moons and appears blue due to the absorption of red light by the methane within its atmosphere. See Table at solar system.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for Neptune (1 of 2)
The Roman and Greek god who ruled the sea.
Notes for Neptune
Notes for Neptune
In astronomy, a major planet, the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune is named for the Roman god of the sea. Neptune is similar in size and composition to Uranus. It is usually visible only through a telescope and was discovered in the 1840s. For a period ending in 1999, Pluto's orbit took it inside the orbit of neptune. (See solar system; see under “Mythology and Folklore.”)
Notes for Neptune
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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