asteroid

noun as·ter·oid \ ˈas-tə-ˌrȯid \

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: asteroid in a Sentence

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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asteroidal

play \ˌas-tə-ˈrȯi-dᵊl\ adjective

See asteroid defined for English-language learners

See asteroid defined for kids

Examples of asteroid in a Sentence

Most asteroids are found between Mars and Jupiter.

Recent Examples of asteroid from the Web

Saying the program was too costly and inefficient, the Obama administration instead aimed to get astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and then near Mars by the 2030s.

— alex stuckey, San Antonio Express-News, "Groundbreaking Latina astronaut retires from Johnson Space Center," 26 May 2018
Everything from errant asteroids hitting the earth to conspiracies about clandestine miners digging underground tunnels.

— vinny vella, Philly.com, "Upper Bucks residents desperate for answers as feds probe mysterious late-night explosions," 25 May 2018
Go behind the scenes as NASA tests the most powerful rocket ever, part of the agency's a decades-spanning effort to send astronauts to explore asteroids, Mars, and beyond.

— robbie gonzalez, WIRED, "NASA’s InSight Lander Will Probe Mars, Measure Its Quakes," 2 May 2018
The Gaia database also includes information on asteroids, nearby galaxies, and the surface temperatures of 100 million stars.

— brian resnick, Vox, "Want to feel small? This atlas of the night sky has 1.7 billion stars in it.," 26 Apr. 2018
The chance of surviving the asteroid was already slim for tree-dwelling birds; eliminating their habitat ensured extinction.

— ashley strickland, CNN, "These were the unlikely survivors after dinosaurs went extinct," 24 May 2018
An asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit may be the first one known to have come from outside our solar system.

— sarah gray, Fortune, "Asteroid Near Jupiter With Backwards Orbit May Be From Outside Our Solar System," 21 May 2018
Instead, the asteroid must have been drifting through space and was captured by the sun’s gravity.

— daniel clery, Science | AAAS, "This asteroid came from another solar system—and it’s here to stay," 21 May 2018
Last month, Laurie Nye organized a 19-artist exhibition that took visitors to a pint-sized universe on an asteroid in the constellation Leo.

— david pagel, latimes.com, "Laurie Nye paints her way to Venus. You can join the ride," 16 May 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.

Origin and Etymology of asteroid

Greek asteroeidēs starlike, from aster-, astēr

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1802

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Astronomy Terms

gibbous, nadir, nebulous, penumbra, retrograde, sidereal, syzygy, wane, wax, zenith

asteroid

adjective

Definition of asteroid

1 : resembling a star

asteroid bodies in sporotrichosis

2 : of or resembling a starfish

Recent Examples of asteroid from the Web

In the case of the dinosaurs, the catastrophe was an asteroid impact.

— The Economist, "The Cambrian explosion was caused by a lack of oxygen, not an abundance," 7 June 2018
Dino-killing asteroid impact warmed Earth's climate for 100,000 years.

— Fox News, "FOX NEWS FIRST: New hope for Trump-Kim summit; Bloody Chi-town weekend; Starbucks closed for racial bias training," 29 May 2018
The results show a change at the time of the Chicxulub asteroid impact that lasted 100,000 years.

— scott k. johnson, Ars Technica, "Dinosaur-killing impact + volcanoes kept the Earth hot for 100,000 years," 26 May 2018
Researchers had already long inferred the asteroid impact caused global wildfires, but the team has now bolstered the argument for total forest obliteration.

— National Geographic, "How Did Dino-Era Birds Survive the Asteroid 'Apocalypse'?," 24 May 2018
There’s a La-Z-Boy on the surface of an asteroid and even teeing off an interstellar golf round.

— morgan enos, Billboard, "John Mayer's 'New Light' & 8 More Music Videos That Risked Using Green Screen," 24 May 2018
If the findings are confirmed, asteroid 2015 BZ509, known as BZ, may give scientists the opportunity to learn more about interstellar objects, or objects from beyond our solar system.

— sarah gray, Fortune, "Asteroid Near Jupiter With Backwards Orbit May Be From Outside Our Solar System," 21 May 2018
Scientists reported Monday that this interstellar resident is an asteroid sharing Jupiter's orbit but circling in the opposite direction.

— marcia dunn, chicagotribune.com, "An asteroid from another star system is flying backwards in Jupiter's orbit, scientists say," 21 May 2018
The instrument will also listen for the signals of small asteroid impacts, collecting statistics on how much material comes raining down on the Red Planet.

— NBC News, "7 ways NASA's InSight mission will go where no Mars explorer has before," 4 May 2018

First Known Use of asteroid

1824

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

ASTEROID Defined for English Language Learners

asteroid

noun

Definition of asteroid for English Language Learners

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

ASTEROID Defined for Kids

asteroid

noun as·ter·oid \ ˈa-stə-ˌrȯid \

Definition 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)