sputnik
noun
any of a series of Soviet earth-orbiting satellites.
sputnik
American
[spoot-nik, spuht-, spoot-nyik]
/ ˈspʊt nɪk, ˈspʌt-, ˈsput njɪk /
noun
Sputnik
British
/ ˈspʌt-, ˈspʊtnɪk /
noun
Etymology
Origin of sputnik
1957; < Russian spútnik satellite, traveling companion, equivalent to s- together, with + put’ way, route + -nik agent suffix ( cf. -nik)
Vocabulary lists containing sputnik
2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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The Vocabulary of Soviet-Era Nostalgia & Cold War Spy Words
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American History - Middle 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:
With his trademark delivery - unhurried and calm - he informed viewers of the first sputnik in space, and delivered the communiqués of the Communist Party.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2021
This guy's not as imposing as a sputnik, but just as many bulbs.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2021
All languages borrow words from other languages — Americans may recognize agitprop, sputnik, babushka or cosmonaut.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2017
Right away, the limitations of the sputnik analogy should be clear.
From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2012
"Is it one of the space platforms or a sputnik?"
From The Secret of the Ninth Planet by Wollheim, Donald Allen
Seattle’s Century 21 Exposition took place in the shadow of the Cold War, following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial Earth satellite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen described it as a "Sputnik moment" -- referencing the 1957 launch of Earth's first artificial satellite by the Soviet Union that stunned the Western world.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
A big lesson since Sputnik launched the Space Age is that we are Earthlings to the core.
From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2025
That scientific background may have influenced his move to use his Russian sovereign wealth fund to finance Russia's Covid vaccine Sputnik V.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
Sputnik came up as a topic again later in the day during Mr. Mams’s biology class.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
