nova
noun
a star that suddenly becomes thousands of times brighter and then gradually fades to its original intensity.
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nova
1 American
[noh-vuh]
/ ˈnoʊ və /
noun
Astronomy.
-
novas,
plural
-
novae
plural
Nova
2
American
[noh-vuh]
/ ˈnoʊ və /
noun
-
Also called Nova Salmon. a Pacific salmon cured in the style of Nova Scotia salmon.
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nova, (loosely) any smoked salmon.
nova
British
/ ˈnəʊvə /
noun
nova
Scientific
/ nō′və /
-
novae
plural
-
A white dwarf star that suddenly and temporarily becomes extremely bright as a result of the explosion at its surface of material accreted from an expanding companion star. The material, mostly hydrogen and helium, is attracted by the white dwarf's gravity and accumulates under growing pressure and heat until nuclear fusion is ignited. Unlike a supernova, a nova is not blown apart by the explosion and gradually returns to its original brightness over a period of weeks to years. Because of their sudden appearance where no star had been previously visible, novae were long thought to be new stars. Since 1925, novae have been classified as variable stars.
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Compare supernova
nova
Cultural
Usage
What is a nova? A nova is a star that temporarily becomes extremely bright and then returns to its original brightness. The plural of nova is novas or novae. A star is an object in outer space that is basically a big bright ball of gas. The Sun is the only star in our solar system. The Sun is a medium-sized star in the middle of its life. When a star the size of our Sun or smaller nears the end of its life, it becomes a white dwarf. A white dwarf is small (for a star) and, because of its size, not very bright. However, a white dwarf is very dense, so it has a strong gravitational pull. In a binary solar system, there are two stars. Sometimes, a white dwarf star in a binary system will pull hydrogen gas from a bigger, neighboring star. Eventually, it may pull so much hydrogen together that it causes an explosion. This explosion causes the white dwarf to become incredibly bright and become what is called a nova. A nova is temporary. Typically, a white dwarf only stays really bright for several days before returning to its original state. The white dwarf may again start pulling hydrogen from its neighbor and eventually again turn into a nova. Each cycle could take anywhere from a thousand to hundreds of thousands of years.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of nova
First recorded in 1680–90; from New Latin: noun use of feminine of Latin novus “new”; see also new
Vocabulary lists containing nova
Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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Space Science (Astronomy) - Middle School
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Space Science (Astronomy) - High School
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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:
“The Brazil of bossa nova and samba, the Brazil that so many foreigners know and that Lula grew up with, has now been almost totally replaced,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Dean’s set was full of classic stuff — pastel-hued horns, bossa nova piano, winking choreo from her full-suited backing band.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The project, released just before Coachella, blended a diverse range of rhythms such as pop, Brazilian funk, R&B and bossa nova -- a mix that, for Sonza, is the essence of Brazil.
From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026
Pair the bagels with hand sliced nova salmon, cream cheese, and a slice of tomato for a true feast.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
Nevertheless, the nova marks, quite precisely, the beginning of the Revolution, as the death of the archduke marks the beginning of the war.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The double hemisphere world map, known as Nova Orbis Tabula, was one of 12 in the atlas, and is studied by scholars around the world.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Art Bryson-Hare, who moved to Sundre 30 years ago from Nova Scotia, said he was uncertain about the rodeo committee’s decision to cancel the parade over the flag float.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
Stoke Space, a startup working on a reusable rocket called Nova, raised $1 billion in September — making it the second-largest deal in the space-infrastructure segment tracked by Space Capital.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister who has denounced Netanyahu for not preventing the attack, joined mourners at Nova to remember the attack by the "monsters" three years ago.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The first book claiming to present a ‘new philosophy’ would seem to be Francesco Patrizi’s anti-Aristotelian Nova de universis philosophia, or A New Universal Philosophy, of 1591.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The team focused on two novae that erupted in 2021 and found that they behaved in strikingly different ways.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 31, 2025
There is not yet enough observational data for chlorine to confirm this and it provides a testable hypothesis to check the validity of the ONe novae model.
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2024
Some even linked this possibility with novae observed in the sky — sudden bursts of light that dazzle the midnight firmament.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2023
"I was looking for a much more common type of outburst called novae."
From Scientific American ● May 3, 2023
Proper naked-eye observations of novae and comets could produce results incompatible with celestial-sphere astronomy, but these results were irrelevant to planetary predictions.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
There are more than 400 known novas in the Milky Way galaxy.
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
The Zwicky Transient Facility scans the sky for stars that rapidly change in brightness, which could be events such as novas.
From Scientific American ● May 3, 2023
There was a kind of cosmic rightness: two novas exploding together.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2018
The Brazilian duo Minas will perform jazz sambas and bossa novas.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2015
Arguments over the location of novas and comets in the heavens thus continued even after 1610, after which date the traditional Ptolemaic system was abandoned by all competent participants.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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