planet

[ plan-it ]

/ ˈplæn ɪt /

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See synonyms for: planet / planets on Thesaurus.com

noun

Astronomy.

Also called major planet. any of the eight large heavenly bodies revolving about the sun and shining by reflected light: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune, in the order of their proximity to the sun. Until 2006, Pluto was classified as a planet ninth in order from the sun; it has been reclassified as a dwarf planet.
a similar body revolving about a star other than the sun.
(formerly) a celestial body moving in the sky, as distinguished from a fixed star, applied also to the sun and moon.

Astrology. the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto: considered sources of energy or consciousness in the interpretation of horoscopes.

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Origin of planet

1250–1300; Middle English planete (<Old French planète) <Late Latin planēta, planētēs (found only in plural planētae) <Greek (astéres) planḗtai literally, wandering (stars)

Words nearby planet

planer tree, plane sailing, planeside, plane spotter, plane surveying, planet, plane table, planetarian, planetarium, planetary, planetary nebula

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use planet in a sentence

A new analysis of meteorites from the inner solar system — home to the four rocky planets — suggests that Earth’s building blocks delivered enough water to account for all the H2O buried within the planet.
Earth’s building blocks may have had far more water than previously thought|Christopher Crockett|August 27, 2020|Science News
For the first time, astronomers have captured a portrait of a distant family of planets and their sunlike star.
A weird cousin of our solar system is caught on camera|Lisa Grossman|August 26, 2020|Science News For Students
A team of researchers led by David Armstrong at the University of Warwick in the UK recently trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify “exoplanets”—that is, planets outside our solar system—from NASA data.
50 new planets, including one as big as Neptune, are identified using A.I.|rhhackettfortune|August 26, 2020|Fortune
Most young people I know have already decided not to have children, because they don’t want their kids growing up on a doomed planet.
Generation Z is ‘traumatized’ by climate change—and they’re the key to fighting it|matthewheimer|August 19, 2020|Fortune

The solar system is the group of planets, including Earth, that orbit the sun.
Scientists Say: Solar|Bethany Brookshire|August 17, 2020|Science News For Students
Andy Serkis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Do you want to be on the wrong side of history, Academy?
Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’|Marlow Stern|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In fact, Mexico buys and sells more US goods than any other country on the planet except for Canada.
Why Mexicans Are Enraged by Obama’s Big Tuesday Meeting|Ruben Navarrette Jr.|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Good for her—but what a shameful indictment of Planet Fashion.
One Vogue Cover Doesn’t Solve Fashion’s Big Race Problem|Danielle Belton|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
With Batman and Planet of the Apes, you seem to be operating around 15 years ahead of the culture.
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel|Marlow Stern|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Why was a master photographer recruited to work with one of the most successful liquor brands on the planet?
The Restaurant, Flask, And Photography Worthy of The Macallan Whisky||December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Blatchford
Cassini observed, by the position of certain spots, the revolution of the planet Venus on its axis.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Meadows began to play inner planet combinations that occasionally paid, though at short odds.
Fee of the Frontier|Horace Brown Fyfe
Our poor planet will be but a silent ghost whirling on its dark path in the starlight.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
As the details of this planet are to occupy us during nearly all the remainder of this work, we shall for the present pass it by.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler

British Dictionary definitions for planet

planet

/ (ˈplænɪt) /

noun

Also called: major planet any of the eight celestial bodies, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, that revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits and are illuminated by light from the sun

Also called: extrasolar planet any other celestial body revolving around a star, illuminated by light from that star

astrology any of the planets of the solar system, excluding the earth but including the sun and moon, each thought to rule one or sometimes two signs of the zodiacSee also house (def. 9)

Word Origin for planet

C12: via Old French from Late Latin planēta, from Greek planētēs wanderer, from planaein to wander

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 planet

planet

[ plăn′ĭt ]

In the traditional model of solar systems, a celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the Sun, around which it revolves.

A celestial body that orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to assume nearly a round shape, clears out dust and debris from the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite of another planet. The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto was considered to be a planet until its reclassification in 2006 as a dwarf planet. A planetlike body with more than about ten times the mass of Jupiter would be considered a brown dwarf rather than a planet. See also extrasolar planet inner planet outer planet.

Other words from planet

planetary adjective

Cultural definitions for planet

planet

An object in orbit around a star. A planet does not give off its own light; rather, it shines by reflecting sunlight. Planets close to the sun are rocky. Those farther out consist mostly of gases and liquids.

notes for planet

There are nine major planets, including the Earth, in orbit around our sun, along with many asteroids. (See solar system.)

notes for planet

Scientists have discovered evidence for the existence of many planets that circle other stars.

planet

Origin of planet

Words nearby planet

Words related to planet

How to use planet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for planet

Word Origin for planet

Scientific definitions for planet

Other words from planet

Cultural definitions for planet

notes for planet

notes for planet