asteroid

noun

as·ter·oid | \ ˈas-tə-ˌrȯid

Definition of asteroid

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : any of the small rocky celestial bodies found especially between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

2 : starfish

asteroid

adjective

Definition of asteroid (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : resembling a star asteroid bodies in sporotrichosis

2 : of or resembling a starfish

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Examples of asteroid in a Sentence

Noun

Most asteroids are found between Mars and Jupiter.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

This unisex garb would be almost utopian, if the poor souls on screen weren’t so busy battling aliens, asteroids or each other. — Jacob Gallagher, WSJ, "Who Needs Gender? Why Men and Women Are Dressing Identically," 21 Feb. 2019 First, the astronomers wanted to determine what an interstellar asteroid in our solar system would even look like. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "There Could Be Hundreds of Interstellar Asteroids Lurking in Our Solar System," 3 Dec. 2018 So, right now, Obama is just another asteroid in Trump's galaxy. — Fox News, "Maxine Waters renews calls to impeach President Trump," 11 Sep. 2018 Comets and asteroids that pass within 28 million miles of Earth's orbit are officially classified as near-Earth objects, or NEOs. — William Harwood, CBS News, "NASA asteroid-watchers team up on emergency plan with White House, FEMA," 20 June 2018 The ball careens off into space, striking a nearby asteroid which then crashes into the moon, splitting into thousand pieces. — Fox News, "Gutfeld: Be nicer. It will drive your enemies nuts," 5 Aug. 2018 The planet formation process involves the coalescing of this material into larger and larger bodies, ultimately concluding in the production of planetesimals, bodies that range in size from large asteroids up to nearly the size of Mars and Mercury. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Star’s dimming and brightening may indicate it’s eating a planet," 20 July 2018 Nickelodeon Salvation The populace finally learns that a planet-killing asteroid is on its way as this sci-fi drama returns for a second season. — Matt Cooper, latimes.com, "Monday's TV highlights: 'Singing With Angry Bird' on 'POV' and more," 25 June 2018 Today, carbon-rich asteroids are the leading suspect. — Nola Taylor Redd, Smithsonian, "How Jupiter May Have Gifted Early Earth With Water," 20 June 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Johnson and Melosh said this helps prove the asteroid crash case. — Seth Borenstein, The Seattle Times, "Snapshot of extinction: Fossils show day of killer asteroid," 3 Apr. 2019 So if all goes well, two different spacecraft from two different countries may bring back asteroid material for scientists to study. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "A Japanese spacecraft just threw two small rovers at an asteroid," 21 Sep. 2018 The asteroid Hayabusa is orbiting, Ryugu, is too far away for a delicate process like this to be controlled from the Earth, so the spacecraft had to handle landing, firing, and sample collection all by itself. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Here's How It Looks When a Spacecraft Shoots an Asteroid," 5 Mar. 2019 In the opening chapters of Mary Robinette Kowal’s latest two novels, an asteroid lands just off the US Eastern Seaboard and threatens to drastically change the climate. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Our favorite science fiction and fantasy books of 2018," 21 Dec. 2018 Researchers from the University of Southampton set out seven different risks posed by an asteroid collision. — Jasper Hamill, Fox News, "7 terrifying ways that asteroids could wipe out life on our planet revealed," 28 June 2018 The National Science and Technology Council released a report Wednesday calling for improved asteroid detection, tracking and deflection. — Marcia Dunn, OrlandoSentinel.com, "U.S. stepping up Earth's protection from asteroids, comets," 26 June 2018 The capsule containing the mission's asteroid samples will come down to Earth a year later, in December 2020. — Mike Wall, Space.com, "Landing Site on Asteroid Ryugu Chosen for Japan's Hayabusa2 Mission," 23 Aug. 2018 But that doesn’t stop some top asteroid experts from wondering — and worrying. — NBC News, "Stopping 'Armageddon': This former astronaut is on a mission to save Earth from deadly asteroids," 10 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'asteroid.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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1 Apr 2019

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Time Traveler for asteroid

The first known use of asteroid was in 1802

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More Definitions for asteroid

asteroid

noun

English Language Learners Definition of asteroid

: any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun

See the full definition for asteroid in the English Language Learners Dictionary

asteroid

noun

as·ter·oid | \ ˈa-stə-ˌrȯid

Kids Definition of asteroid

: one of thousands of rocky objects that move in orbits mostly between those of Mars and Jupiter and have diameters from a fraction of a mile to nearly 500 miles (800 kilometers)