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Showing results for thruster. Search instead for thrustor.

thruster

American  
[thruhs-ter] / ˈθrʌs tər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that thrusts.

  2. Fox Hunting. a rider who keeps in the front of the field.

  3. Aerospace. a small rocket attached to a spacecraft and used to control its attitude or translational motion.


thruster British  
/ ˈθrʌstə /

noun

  1. a person or thing that thrusts

  2. Also called: vernier rocket. a small rocket engine, esp one used to correct the altitude or course of a spacecraft

  3. an auxiliary propeller on a ship, capable of acting athwartships

"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 thruster

First recorded in 1590–1600; thrust + -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.

See Examples For:

Development of this thruster has been underway for the past 2½ years.

From Science Daily ● May 6, 2026

It found that crew members had believed there were problems with the ship's thruster when they could not change the vessel's direction.

From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024

More concerning was that the propulsion system’s thruster engines malfunctioned during the docking procedure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2024

The plume of debris, in turn, acted like a rocket thruster, providing an extra push in the opposite direction, slowing the asteroid.

From Salon ● May 16, 2024

The thruster was so close now, just below and to his left, its roar the loudest thing Mark had ever heard.

From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner

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