Definition of asteroid
1 : any of the small rocky celestial bodies found especially between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
2 : starfish
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Examples of asteroid in a Sentence
Most asteroids are found between Mars and Jupiter.
Recent Examples of asteroid from the Web
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NASA is developing new technologies and capabilities to send astronauts farther than ever before, first to an asteroid in the 2020's, and onward to Mars by the 2030s.
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The first spacecraft would be used to get a closer look at the comet or asteroid.
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The release notes that asteroids hit Earth nearly every day, but most are small enough to burn up in the atmosphere.
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On average, multiple car-sized asteroids hit the Earth every year.
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Friday is World Asteroid Day -- a day to raise awareness of the hundreds of thousands of asteroids that have the potential to impact Earth.
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So just sit back and enjoy the nonsense until an asteroid arrives to teach us all a lesson.
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Scientists in the Czech Republic have identified an asteroid specifically targeted at anyone who spends $59.95 on a LaVar Ball trading card.
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This sci-fi/suspense thriller is about an MIT student and a tech billionaire who team up to save the world from an asteroid.
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.
Origin and Etymology of asteroid
Greek asteroeidēs starlike, from aster-, astēr
asteroid
Definition of asteroid
1 : resembling a star asteroid bodies in sporotrichosis
2 : of or resembling a starfish
Recent Examples of asteroid from the Web
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At this point, however, the rules look pretty clear, and the odds of bucking them are about as good as successfully navigating an asteroid field.
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You’re much more in danger of succumbing to the flu (a one in 63 chance); a car accident (one in 90); a fall (one in 218); a lightning strike (one in 960,000); or even an asteroid (one in 1.6 million).
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Check out the Millennium Falcon cleaving through asteroid debris like a scythe, or those Separatist droid armies throwing down against hordes of clone troopers.
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TRAPPIST-1h receives about the same amount of energy from its star as the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, gets from Earth's sun, NASA officials said.
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In January 2017, NASA said the spacecraft Pysche could be used to study and potentially mine 16 Pysche, an asteroid thought to be the remains of a dead planet.
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The third concern is the lack of a current market in asteroid resources.
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The regulatory phase got a major boost in 2015, when President Barack Obama signed legislation recognizing asteroid resource property rights.
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Silicon Valley investors are known for pouring money into risky bets like flying cars and asteroid mining.
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.
First Known Use of asteroid
1824
ASTEROID Defined for English Language Learners
asteroid
playDefinition of asteroid for English Language Learners
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: any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun
ASTEROID Defined for Kids
asteroid
playDefinition of asteroid for Students
: 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)
Medical Dictionary
asteroid
playMedical Definition of asteroid
: resembling a star
Learn More about asteroid
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See words that rhyme with asteroid Spanish Central: Translation of asteroid Nglish: Translation of asteroid for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of asteroid for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about asteroid
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