as in circling
to travel completely around
the moon orbits the Earth
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Recent Examples of orbiting
Firefly was successful with its Blue Ghost lunar lander in 2025 and has its second lander along with the Dark Elytra orbiting transfer vehicle set to launch on the far side of the moon before the end of the year.
—
Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 May 2026
These satellites, orbiting at about 90 times higher than the International Space Station (at 250 miles or 400 km), are positioned in a sweet spot allowing the speed of their orbit to match the rotation of the Earth.
—Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 25 May 2026
One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space.
—ABC News, 24 May 2026
The news lands like a punch to the chest for a sport that spent more than two decades orbiting around Busch’s talent, his temper, and his refusal to be anything other than himself.
—Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 21 May 2026
After the probe reaches the asteroid by August 2029, the spacecraft will begin orbiting its namesake while snapping photographs and mapping the surface.
—Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 20 May 2026
SpaceX also plans to launch thousands of orbiting data centers powered by the sun that would perform AI calculations.
—Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2026
The other outer giants — Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter — all have a broadly similar, orderly set of satellites, with several larger moons orbiting in the same direction as the host planet’s rotation.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 20 May 2026
For decades, the total number of satellites orbiting Earth numbered about 4,000, but in the last five years that number has grown to about 14,000.
—Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2026
Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 May 2026
These satellites, orbiting at about 90 times higher than the International Space Station (at 250 miles or 400 km), are positioned in a sweet spot allowing the speed of their orbit to match the rotation of the Earth.
—Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 25 May 2026
One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space.
—ABC News, 24 May 2026
The news lands like a punch to the chest for a sport that spent more than two decades orbiting around Busch’s talent, his temper, and his refusal to be anything other than himself.
—Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 21 May 2026
After the probe reaches the asteroid by August 2029, the spacecraft will begin orbiting its namesake while snapping photographs and mapping the surface.
—Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 20 May 2026
SpaceX also plans to launch thousands of orbiting data centers powered by the sun that would perform AI calculations.
—Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2026
The other outer giants — Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter — all have a broadly similar, orderly set of satellites, with several larger moons orbiting in the same direction as the host planet’s rotation.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 20 May 2026
For decades, the total number of satellites orbiting Earth numbered about 4,000, but in the last five years that number has grown to about 14,000.
—Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for orbiting
Verb
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The Nativity and Passion facades can be appreciated from outside, and the scale of the project is best understood by circling it slowly.—
David Nikel,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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They're laid, each fall, in ephemeral ponds; on dry mounds, like the one Dahrouge is circling, that should be inundated by winter's rains.—
Nathan Rott,
NPR,
27 May 2026
Verb
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Punk Essays, is a coming-of-age collection of pop-culture criticism and personal narratives traversing the author’s formative years in South Gate, CA, through present day adulthood, navigating the center of being black, Latino, and a punk.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
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To that end, the architects will create a second public entrance and construct a new 33,000-square-foot exhibition space for the Mona Lisa, allowing visitors to access the famed artwork without traversing the rest of the museum.—
Tessa Solomon,
ARTnews.com,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Styled by Brad Goreski, Moore wore a custom cobalt blue Self Portrait gown with an oversized bow encircling the hips, falling into a train.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
22 May 2026
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Bad weather postponed a major construction project on Atlanta's primary highway encircling the city last weekend, but now the traffic chaos is here.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Orbiting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/orbiting. Accessed 29 May. 2026.
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