star

1 of 3

noun

often attributive
1
a
: a natural luminous body visible in the sky especially at night
b
: a self-luminous gaseous spheroidal celestial body of great mass which produces energy by means of nuclear fusion reactions
2
a(1)
: a planet or a configuration of the planets that is held in astrology to influence one's destiny or fortune
usually used in plural
(2)
: a waxing or waning fortune or fame
her star was rising
b
obsolete : destiny
3
a
: a conventional figure with five or more points that represents a star
especially : asterisk
b
: an often star-shaped ornament or medal worn as a badge of honor, authority, or rank or as the insignia of an order
c
: one of a group of conventional stars used to place something in a scale of value
4
: something resembling a star
was hit on the head and saw stars
5
a
: the principal member of a theatrical or operatic company who usually plays the chief roles
b
: a highly publicized theatrical or motion-picture performer
c
: an outstandingly talented performer
a track star
d
: a person who is preeminent in a particular field
starless adjective
starlike adjective

star

2 of 3

verb

starred; starring; stars
1
a
intransitive : to play the most prominent or important role in a movie, play, etc.
an actor currently starring in a hit Broadway show
She had a starring role in his latest film.
(figurative) Tequila and blood oranges star in this Margarita, which gets a spicy kick from homemade jalapeño syrup.Natalie Migliarini
b
transitive : to feature (a performer) in the most prominent or important role
a movie that stars a famous stage personality
2
intransitive : to perform outstandingly
In the fall of 1925, Elkins starred on the gridiron …Bil Gilbert
[Alan] Trammell, who starred for the Tigers at shortstop during the glory days of the 1980s …Jeff Bradley
3
transitive
a
: to mark with a star as being superior or preeminent in some way
a monument starred in the guidebook
a starred review
b
: to mark with an asterisk
4
transitive : to sprinkle or adorn with or as if with stars
… meadows starred with buttercups and daisies.Kenneth Roberts

star

3 of 3

adjective

1
: of, relating to, or being a star
received star billing
2
: of outstanding excellence : preeminent
a star athlete

Examples of star in a Sentence

Noun They gazed up at the stars. There are billions of stars in the universe. I'm glad we didn't use the tent. It's so much nicer to sleep outside under the stars. The restaurant was awarded four stars for excellence. Critics give the movie three stars. Verb The new television series stars a famous movie actress. a concert starring some of the biggest names in the business He starred in both baseball and football when he was in college. She starred for the basketball team last year. This restaurant is starred in the guidebook. Adjective looking for star actors to play the leads
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Last March, the soccer star spoke out publicly for the first time about his high-profile breakup with Grammy-winning artist. Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 16 Mar. 2024 Bonham Carter sinks her teeth into this larger-than-life personality, portraying a lioness in the winter of her career who understands that even if the show is dreck, being its star has become inextricably entwined with her identity. Brian Lowry, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024 The Kansas star gave the insight following pressure from X users and the platform’s owner, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, to share his content on the site. Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 15 Mar. 2024 The series promises a blend of humor, relatable situations, and poignant challenges, intertwined with original music crafted by the star herself. Okla Jones, Essence, 15 Mar. 2024 Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas and Mark Ruffalo were among the many stars calling for a cease-fire in the Middle East who sported a pin with a red hand symbol at the Oscars on Sunday evening. Fox News Staff, Fox News, 15 Mar. 2024 The star took to social media to share her gratitude to those who responded to the emergency. Mackenzie Schmidt, Peoplemag, 15 Mar. 2024 The reality star, who shared two children with Gutierrez, was moving an ATV from one parking spot to another in front of his home in Boone, North Carolina on Feb. 28 when the tragedy happened, his mother, Mary Hobbs, told The U.S. Sun. Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024 The team dominated possession, had the lion’s share of the chances and two of the team’s stars who have blossomed under his leadership – defenders Jeremie Frimpong and Alejando Grimaldo – scored the goals. Ben Morse, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024
Verb
Radio Silence, which was published in 2016, stars two classmates that start a podcast, and 2018’s I Was Born for This focuses on a teenage pop rock band. Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 17 Mar. 2024 As for Hearne, who after All That starred in episodes of Everybody Hates Chris and Law & Order, plans to steer his one, four, and 11-year-old away from the child actor industry. Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2024 Its builders say its emissions are at least 30 percent less than a conventional project of its size. Timber has a starring role here, too. Catherine Porter, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2024 The revival, which stars Imperioli and Succession's Jeremy Strong, follows a doctor (Strong) who discovers that the town’s drinking water is poisoning residents, only to be silenced by local officials, including his brother (Imperioli). EW.com, 15 Mar. 2024 At one of her July Eras shows in Kansas City, the musician unveiled a music video for the track starring Taylor Lautner and Joey King, both of whom joined her onstage to help do the honors. Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 15 Mar. 2024 Strong Baby produced the Netflix comedy You People starring Hill, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Murphy and Lauren London. Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Mar. 2024 Barbie remains one of world's the top-selling toys—and is even more popular after director Greta Gerwig's smash hit Barbie, the 2023 film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Sari Beth Rosenberg, Parents, 5 Mar. 2024 The actress, 53, appeared on Tuesday's Live with Kelly and Mark episode, sharing that her daughters Sami, 19, Lola, 18, and Eloise, 12, were shocked to learn their mom had guest starred on an episode of Friends. Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024
Adjective
With star big man Branden Carlson eschewing the NBA Draft, guard Gabe Madsen returning and Georgia Tech transfer Deivon Smith arriving, the Utes were picked seventh in the Pac-12 race. Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024 Hunter has a star witness of his own -- Dr. William Anderson, a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner who reviewed Cayley's autopsy and records for the defense. Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 20 Jan. 2024 The difference came on the offensive glass, where UConn struggled in the last several games without its star big man. Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2024 As prosecutors sought to prove their case, they were plagued by setbacks, including questions about the credibility of their star witness and revelations that he had been coached by a Becciu enemy. . Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2023 She is set to be a star witness at Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial, which begins this week. WSJ, 10 Oct. 2023 From the archives: Charisma Osborne Former Windward star Charisma Osborne is in the perfect situation to gain national attention as the star fifth-year player for UCLA, ranked No. 2 in the nation in women’s college basketball. Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2023 The franchise may look to a star Japanese pitcher to help turn things around. Ryan Morik, Fox News, 28 Nov. 2023 Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images North America Google's star witness in the Justice Department's monopoly trial, Sundar Pichai, took the stand on Monday. Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 30 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'star.' 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

Noun

Middle English sterre, stere "star, planet, constellation," going back to Old English steorra (Northumbrian stearra), masculine weak noun, going back to a Germanic n-stem paradigm *sterōn (nominative), *sterraz (genitive), going back to pre-Germanic *h2stér-ōn, *h2ster-n-ós (whence also Old Frisian stēra "star," Old Saxon & Old High German sterro, Middle Dutch sterre, and, with reintroduction of *-rn- from oblique forms with presumed initial stress, Middle Dutch sterne "star," Old High German sterno, Old Icelandic stjarna, Gothic stairno), going back to Indo-European *h2ster- "star," whence, with varying thematizations, Old Irish ser "star" (attested once), Welsh sêr "stars" (singular seren), Old Breton sterenn "star," Greek aster-, astḗr "star (usually in reference to a particular heavenly body)," ástra "stars" (with a secondary singular ástron), Tocharian A śreñ "stars," Tocharian B ścirye "star," Sanskrit stār- (nominative plural tā́raḥ, instrumental plural stṛ́bhiḥ), Avestan star-, Hittite ḫašter-; with a suffixal -l- Latin stēlla "star, heavenly body" (perhaps < *stēr(e)lā), Armenian astł (perhaps < *h2stēr-l-)

Note: The etymon *h2ster- is attested in all major subfamilies of Indo-European, with the apparent exception of Balto-Slavic and Albanian. The original paradigm can be reconstructed as *h2stḗr (nominative), *h2stér-m̥ (accusative), *h2str-ó-s (genitive); it is preserved best in Greek. The Germanic forms show the action of Kluge's Law (to those who accept it), according to which *-rn- is reduced to a geminate *-rr- before an accented syllable. The original *-rn- has found its way back into the base form in North and East Germanic, but only partially in West Germanic (it is lacking completely in Anglo-Frisian). The Indo-European etymology can be carried further, if the base *h2ster- is seen as a reduction of *h2h1ster-, an agentive derivative of *h2eh1s- "burn, make dry with heat" (see arid); the star would hence the thing that burns or glows (see D. Adams, A Dictionary of Tocharian B, Revised and Greatly Enlarged [Rodopi, 2013], p. 701). A different and less straightforward derivation is proposed by G.-J. Pinault ("A Star Is Born: A 'New' PIE *-ter- Suffix," A.J. Nussbaum, editor, Verba Docenti [Ann Arbor, 2007], pp. 271-79). Earlier proposals that see the origin of the Indo-European star etymon in the names of Semitic deities of the morning and evening star (Phoenician *‛aštart, rendered by the Greeks as Astártē; Akkadian ištar) now seem improbable.

Verb

derivative of star entry 1

Adjective

from attributive use of star entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of star was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near star

Cite this Entry

“Star.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/star. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

star

1 of 3 noun
1
a
: a natural body visible in the sky especially at night that gives off light or shines by reflection
b
: a ball-shaped gaseous celestial body (as the sun) of great mass that shines by its own light
2
: a planet or an arrangement of the planets that is believed in astrology to influence one's life
usually used in plural
3
: a figure or thing (as an asterisk or badge) with five or more points that represents or resembles a star
4
a
: the principal member of a theater or opera company
b
: a very talented or popular performer
football stars
TV stars
starlike adjective

star

2 of 3 verb
starred; starring
1
: to sprinkle or adorn with stars
2
a
: to mark with a star as being superior
b
: to mark with an asterisk
3
: to present in the role of a star
4
: to play the most important role
will produce and star in a new play
5
: to perform outstandingly
starred at shortstop in the series

star

3 of 3 adjective
1
: of, relating to, or being a star
2
: being of outstanding excellence : preeminent
star athlete
our star trumpeter

More from Merriam-Webster on star

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