thruster

noun

thrust·​er ˈthrə-stər 

variants or less commonly thrustor

: one that thrusts

especially : an engine (such as a jet engine) that develops thrust by expelling a jet of fluid or a stream of particles

Examples of thruster in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Overheating electronics contributed to the failure of two of the craft's three reaction wheels, compounded by an unrelated malfunction in its thruster system. — David Szondy august 20, New Atlas, 21 Aug. 2026

Meanwhile the hopper will fire a rocket thruster to jump up to 15 kilometers (nine miles) across the surface at a time, targeting touchdowns in surrounding, permanently shadowed craters. — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 20 Aug. 2026

Despite efforts to slow LINK's spin rate with a series of electric propulsion thruster burns, Katalyst was unable to stabilize the spacecraft. — Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026

On top of that, their solid-state thrusters have no moving parts to freeze or jam, eliminating the heavy heating equipment traditional mechanical propellers would need to survive Titan’s extreme cold. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 17 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for thruster

• bluster
• buster
• cluster
• duster
• juster
• luster
• lustre
• maister
• muster
• trustor
• adjuster
• baluster

Kids Definition

thruster

noun

thrust·​er ˈthrəs-tər 

: one that thrusts

especially : an engine that produces thrust by discharging a jet of fluid or a stream of particles