stellar
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the stars; consisting of stars.
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like a star, as in brilliance, shape, etc.
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pertaining to a preeminent performer, athlete, etc.
adjective
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of, relating to, involving, or resembling a star or stars
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of or relating to star entertainers
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informal outstanding or immense
companies are registering stellar profits
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stellar
First recorded in 1650–60; from Late Latin stellāris, from stell(a) “star” ( see also star) + -āris -ar 1
Explanation
Meaning outstanding, wonderful, better than everything else, stellar is a word of praise or excitement. Thomas Edison invented many things, but his stellar achievement might have been the light bulb. Stellar literally means "like a star." When it comes time for your debut on Broadway, you will sure hope that the reviews say that you delivered a stellar performance. You could also use stellar to talk about actual stars, of course, or you could even blend the two: enjoy the stellar beauty of your beloved under the stellar light of a moonless night.
Vocabulary lists containing stellar
Oh, My Stars! The Language of Outer Space
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Oh, My Stars! A Solstice Sampler
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Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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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.
Scientists believe repeated mergers like these are most likely to happen in crowded environments such as dense stellar clusters, where black holes have many opportunities to interact and eventually collide.
From Science Daily • Jul. 2, 2026
Tomi Kilgore highlighted a sector of the S&P 500 that has a stellar record for gains during July.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 2, 2026
For Stokes, it is an astonishing conclusion to a stellar career that produced some of the most iconic moments in English sporting history.
From BBC • Jun. 28, 2026
It is one thing for fund managers to record large unrealized gains on hard-to-value, illiquid assets and report stellar investment performance.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 28, 2026
My work in the 1970s focused on the black holes that can result from such stellar collapse and the intense gravitational fields around them.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
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.
