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 See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
There are even more sale stars coming from Saks Fifth Avenue, MyTheresa, Farfetch, and Tory Burch that go from catwalk to your closet a little too seamlessly. Maia Torres, Vogue, 24 Nov. 2023 Spotting a price tag on a Dyson item is like seeing a shooting star (if the shooting star was a blow dryer). Sarah Han, Allure, 24 Nov. 2023 But the real star of the show here is the Z-series lens system with its wider base mount, which allows more light to the corners of the sensors. Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 24 Nov. 2023 Throughout the sitcom's 10 seasons, several big names stepped onto the set as guest stars. Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 23 Nov. 2023 Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., a Southern California native of Mexican heritage, could be the latest Latino hoops star. Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2023 Astronomers took these oddball stars as evidence of a titanic collision between the Milky Way and another galaxy. WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023 The cast also includes Ray Fisher, Fra Fee, Ed Skrein, Cleopatra Coleman and Anthony Hopkins, who voice stars as a robot. Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Nov. 2023 Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Sarah Gadon and Patrick Dempsey also star. Michaela Zee, Variety, 12 Nov. 2023
Verb
The anniversary specials also star Neil Patrick Harris, Jacqueline King, Karl Collins, Bernard Cribbins, and Jemma Redgrave, Yasmin Finney and others. Rudie Obias, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Nov. 2023 So far, other country stars with bar-restaurant-music venues include Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan and Alan Jackson. Nancy Kruh, Peoplemag, 25 Nov. 2023 Sony Pictures is distributing the film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a very moody military genius and Vanessa Kirby as the woman whose love inspires him to conquer much of Europe, millions of casualties be damned. Brent Lang, Variety, 24 Nov. 2023 Based on Sherman Alexie’s screenplay adapted from his own collection of stories, Eyre’s film is an endearing road trip dramedy starring Adam Beach and Evan Adams. Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 24 Nov. 2023 The film stars Bruce Willis as a convict from 2035 named James Cole, who is sent back in time to investigate the origin of a a deadly virus that appeared in 1996 and wiped out almost all of humanity, forcing any survivors to live underground. Jennifer Ouellette and Sean M. Carroll, Ars Technica, 24 Nov. 2023 Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who have continued the Carter’s humanitarian work building affordable homes with Habitat for Humanity, are likely to sing at the funeral, two people with knowledge of the plans said. Mary Jordan, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2023 Elsewhere during the week was a performance by Jay Leno, a preview screening of the Michael Mann film Ferrari (starring Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, and Patrick Dempsey), and concerts at the Wynn’s XS nightclub that included the Chainsmokers, Swedish House Mafia, and Calvin Harris among others. Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 22 Nov. 2023 Kandel shared a Humanitas Award for the 1979 NBC telefilm Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love, a drama about an autistic child that starred James Farentino and Kathryn Harrold. Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Nov. 2023
Adjective
After more than a month of watching from the sidelines, Trump is set to be the star witness in his own $250 million civil fraud trial. Peter Charalambous, ABC News, 6 Nov. 2023 The former Trump lawyer turned star witness made the prediction at TNR’s Stop Trump Summit. Ella Sherman, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2023 Caroline Ellison is arguably the star witness in the government’s case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX who’s on trial for fraud. Ben Weiss, Fortune Crypto, 10 Oct. 2023 Kansas City looked slow at times, especially without All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, while star defensive lineman Chris Jones was chilling in the luxury suite of Arrowhead Stadium still waiting for a new contract. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2023 Maureen is the older sister of Tom Brady, the star NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion. Lynsey Eidell, Peoplemag, 19 Aug. 2023 Neither will star quarterback Matthew Stafford nor star defensive lineman Aaron Donald. Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2023 The star South African batter for Texas, Faf du Plessis, was out on his first ball—chipping an easy catch to a fielder off the bowling of the New Zealander Lockie Ferguson—but Texas rallied with explosive batting from David Miller and Devon Conway, of South Africa and New Zealand, respectively. Ed Caesar, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023 Wednesday, July 19: Mercury Joins Venus, Mars And The Moon Mercury will be to the lower right of a 5% crescent moon, with bright Venus to to the left and Mars to its upper-right (in between Mars and Venus will be the star Regulus in Leo). Jamie Carter, Forbes, 17 July 2023 See More

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 5 Dec. 2023.

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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