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Stella, the Latin word for "star," shines brightly in the word constellation, but stella words have been favored by scientists to describe earthly things as much as heavenly bodies. Stellar was once used to mean "star-shaped." That use is no longer current, but today biologists and geologists might use one of these synonyms: stellular, stellate, and stelliform. Poets, too, have looked to stella. John Milton used stellar in its infancy when he wrote in Paradise Lost "these soft fires … shed down their stellar virtue." Stellar shot into its leading role as a synonym of star (as when we say "stellar pupil") in the late 1800s.
Examples of stellar in a Sentence
Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025
World Central Kitchen Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen has earned its stellar reputation by providing meals to those affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2025
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita is having a stellar season.
—Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 7 Nov. 2025
In fact, this team found that even after the light from Type Ia supernovas was standardized, Type Ia supernovas from populations of younger stars were fainter than those belonging to older stellar populations.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 6 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Stellar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stellar. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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stellar
adjective
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