starry
Americanadjective
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filled, covered with, or illuminated by stars
-
of, like, or relating to a star or stars
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of starry
Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; see origin at star, -y 1
Explanation
Starry things are either full of stars, like the starry night sky, or they look like stars, like the starry white flowers in your garden. An astronaut may have the chance to look out at the starry universe or distant, starry galaxies—and you can do this too, if you have a powerful telescope. The adjective starry almost always describes the night sky, unless a poet describes starry eyes or starry fields of flowers. If someone calls you starry-eyed, they mean that you're unrealistically optimistic.
Vocabulary lists containing starry
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:
In Montecito, the couple became a starry addition to the seaside community’s roster of wealthy residents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
D’Angelo’s children introduced the medley, which was set against a backdrop of floor to ceiling windows looking out on a starry sky.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Entering Game 3, Towns has outplayed and mind-melted San Antonio’s starry giant, Victor Wembanyama, attacking the basket without fear of the Luxor Obelisk looming in the paint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
As I ring the doorbell of Maggie O'Farrell's Edinburgh home, I wonder with some trepidation whether the acclaimed novelist might have become a bit starry after the whirlwind few months she's just had.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
There seemed to be a cottage a short way away under the wide starry sky, and he thought he saw movement outside it.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
The unwritten rules: the bigger, the louder, the splashier, the starrier, the better.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
Mel Brooks, Angela Bassett and film editor Carol Littleton will collect honorary Oscar statuettes at a private, untelevised dinner Tuesday night in Los Angeles that has often been even starrier than the Oscars themselves.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2024
It had a Michigan State star running back who got starrier.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 30, 2021
A starrier gala is scheduled for May 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2021
And the song softened, even as heaven by night Softens, from sunnier down to starrier light, And with its moonbright breath Blessed life for death's sake, and for life's sake death.
From Songs of the Springtides and Birthday Ode Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne—Vol. III by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Stripped of their starriest player and many trusted associates, they’ve morphed into a tighter outfit that plays unselfish team basketball and relies on every player to shoot, rebound and defend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
Brazilian director Karim Ainouz's surreal satire "Rosebush Pruning" premiered on Saturday at the Berlin Film Festival with one of the programme's starriest casts portraying an outrageously spoiled and dysfunctional family descending into chaos.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
It's the strangest, starriest court case you might not yet have heard of.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2023
Like the Oscars this year, there was something warmer and lower key than usual about this starriest of after-parties.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023
Every man's daylight firmament answers in his mind to the brightness of the vision in his starriest hour.
From A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau
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