nebula

noun

neb·​u·​la ˈne-byə-lə How to pronounce nebula (audio)
plural nebulae ˈne-byə-ˌlē How to pronounce nebula (audio) -ˌlī How to pronounce nebula (audio) also nebulas
1
: any of numerous clouds of gas or dust in interstellar space
2
: galaxy sense 1b
especially : a galaxy other than the Milky Way galaxy
not used technically
nebular adjective

Did you know?

Nebula comes to us from Latin, where it means "mist" or "cloud." In its earliest English uses in the 1600s, nebula was chiefly a medical term that could refer either to a cloudy formation in urine or to a cloudy speck or film on the eye that caused vision problems. It was first applied to great interstellar clouds of gas and dust in the early 1700s. The adjective nebulous comes from the same Latin root as nebula, and it is considerably older, being first used as a synonym of cloudy or foggy as early as the 1300s. Like nebula, however, this adjective was not used in an astronomical sense until the mid-1600s.

Examples of nebula in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The celestial centaur contains a whopping 15 Messier objects, mostly star clusters and a few brilliant nebulas. Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024 The nebula has a diameter that is about 60 percent larger than the Earth's Moon in the night sky. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 17 Jan. 2024 With the aid of binoculars or a backyard telescope, the winter sky dazzles with easy-to-find star clusters and a beautiful nebula. Dean Regas, The Enquirer, 6 Feb. 2024 The nebula is imaged here in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope. Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 8 Feb. 2024 The nebula had been discovered about a century earlier by English astronomer John Bevis. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 5 Jan. 2024 The Crab nebula hosts the remains of a star gone supernova. Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 8 Feb. 2024 The new stars’ ultraviolet radiation lights the hydrogen gas like a neon light, causing the nebula to glow. Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 4 Feb. 2024 It is located roughly 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus and this new image shows the nebula in new detail. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 21 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nebula.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from Latin, mist, cloud; akin to Old High German nebul fog, Greek nephelē, nephos cloud

First Known Use

1718, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nebula was in 1718

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Cite this Entry

“Nebula.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nebula. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

nebula

noun
neb·​u·​la ˈneb-yə-lə How to pronounce nebula (audio)
plural nebulas or nebulae -ˌlē How to pronounce nebula (audio)
-ˌlī
1
: any of many huge clouds of gas or dust in deep space
2
nebular adjective

Medical Definition

nebula

noun
neb·​u·​la ˈneb-yə-lə How to pronounce nebula (audio)
plural nebulas or nebulae -ˌlē How to pronounce nebula (audio) -ˌlī How to pronounce nebula (audio)
: a slight cloudy opacity of the cornea

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