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Definition of supernova
1 : the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun
2 : one that explodes into prominence or popularity; also : superstar
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Examples of supernova in a Sentence
tragically, a shoulder injury cut short the pitching career of one of baseball's brightest supernovas
Recent Examples of supernova from the Web
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Lower velocity runaway stars can be produced when one half of a binary pair explodes as a supernova, blasting its partner away.
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Venus passes just south of the brightest supernova remnant in our skies, the Crab Nebula (Messier 1) located 6,300 light-years away.
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The eight-million-year-old red giant is on the brink of star death, also known as going supernova.
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The Royals burned like a supernova in 2014 and 2015.
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As Billboard’s July 1 feature on them points out, a legion of pop heavy-hitters and R&B supernovas have utilized the TLC tool box to achieve their own success.
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When the Yankees were in Oakland last week, Amerman was part of a large contingent that made the drive to see the hometown supernova.
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In the end, whatever Love does might still go eclipsed by the Warriors in supernova.
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The supernova campaign serves as a reminder, whether comforting or terrifying, that humanity exists on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam, as Carl Sagan once wrote.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'supernova'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
A nova, despite its name, isn't actually a "new" star, but rather one that wasn't noticed until it exploded, when it may increase in brightness by a million times before returning to its previous state a few days later. A supernova is far larger; a star in its supernova state may emit a billion times as much light as previously. After a few weeks it begins to dim, until it eventually ceases to exist; it's often replaced by a black hole. (Though remains that were shot out into space may survive; those of a great supernova seen in A.D. 1054 are now known as the Crab Nebula.) All this may serve as a warning to those human stars whose fame explodes too rapidly; supernovas of this kind have sometimes vanished by the following year.
Origin and Etymology of supernova
New Latin
SUPERNOVA Defined for English Language Learners
supernova
playDefinition of supernova for English Language Learners
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astronomy : the explosion of a star that causes the star to become extremely bright
Learn More about supernova
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See words that rhyme with supernova Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for supernova Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about supernova
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