cosmonaut

noun

cos·​mo·​naut ˈkäz-mə-ˌnȯt 

-ˌnät

: an astronaut of the Soviet or Russian space program

Examples of cosmonaut in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Its four crew members are NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin. —Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 May 2025

Typically, Crew Dragon missions carry two NASA astronauts, one Roscosmos cosmonaut, and an international partner astronaut. —Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 7 May 2025

Don Pettit and two cosmonaut colleagues came home aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on April 19, touching down in Kazakhstan to bring their seven-month International Space Station (ISS) mission to a successful close. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 28 Apr. 2025

This was also the first all-woman flight crew since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963. —Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 14 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Russian kosmonavt, from Greek kosmos + Russian -navt (as in aeronavt aeronaut)

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cosmonaut

• aeronaut
• aforethought
• afterthought
• apricot
• argonaut
• astronaut
• camelot
• coffeepot
• concordat
• entrepot
• flowerpot
• huguenot

Kids Definition

cosmonaut

noun

cos·​mo·​naut ˈkäz-mə-ˌnȯt 

-ˌnät

: a Soviet or Russian astronaut