Synonyms

orbiter

American

[awr-bi-ter] / ˈɔr bɪ tər /

noun

U.S. Aerospace.

Also called space shuttle orbiter. the crew- and payload-carrying component of the space shuttle.
a space probe designed to orbit a planetary body or moon.

orbiter British

/ ˈɔːbɪtə /

noun

a spacecraft or satellite designed to orbit a planet or other body without landing on it Compare lander

"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 orbiter

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; orbit + -er ¹

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.

Neither Uranus nor Neptune has ever hosted an orbiter or long-term mission, making them the only planets in the solar system that have not been closely examined over time.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

India spent $74m on the Mars orbiter Mangalyaan and $75m on last year’s historic Chandrayaan-3 – less than the $100m spent on the sci-fi thriller Gravity.

From BBC • Nov. 3, 2024

October’s supermoon will be slightly closer than September’s, according to Noah Petro, a lunar reconnaissance orbiter project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 19, 2024

It was the Mars Odyssey orbiter only, not that satellite and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

From New York Times • Jun. 13, 2024

The Viking orbiter pictures improved this figure only slightly.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023