as in circling
to travel completely around
the moon orbits the Earth
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Recent Examples of orbiting
An unforeseen contribution from Juno Juno, meanwhile, has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, collecting information on the giant planet's internal structure, magnetic field, and atmosphere.
—
Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
The Case For Planet Y Simulations show that a world with a mass between Mercury and Earth, orbiting between 100 and 200 AU from the sun and tilted at least 10 degrees, could nudge the Kuiper Belt's plane into a tilt.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
The visible-light photo, taken by one of Maxar Technologies' WorldView Legion satellites orbiting at an altitude of 312 miles (518 kilometers), shows what appears to be a fleet of fighter jets resting on the ramp adjacent to the runway surrounded by brown, arid soil.
—Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Michell’s discovery indicated that there was more to gravity than objects falling to the ground or planets orbiting the Sun.
—Big Think, 9 Sep. 2025
Called TRAPPIST-1e, the planet is one of seven small worlds orbiting its host star, a red dwarf far smaller and dimmer than our sun.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2025
While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up.
—Eric Lagatta, AZCentral.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Just the same, the Chiefs still have some stuff going for them that no one else in the NFL does — all orbiting around the mind-meld between one of the greatest offensive minds in league history and one of its most special talents.
—Kansas City Star, 4 Sep. 2025
The overlap between devoted Monopoly heads and Wicked stans is, well, two separate circles, orbiting each other but never meeting in the middle.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
The Case For Planet Y Simulations show that a world with a mass between Mercury and Earth, orbiting between 100 and 200 AU from the sun and tilted at least 10 degrees, could nudge the Kuiper Belt's plane into a tilt.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
The visible-light photo, taken by one of Maxar Technologies' WorldView Legion satellites orbiting at an altitude of 312 miles (518 kilometers), shows what appears to be a fleet of fighter jets resting on the ramp adjacent to the runway surrounded by brown, arid soil.
—Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Michell’s discovery indicated that there was more to gravity than objects falling to the ground or planets orbiting the Sun.
—Big Think, 9 Sep. 2025
Called TRAPPIST-1e, the planet is one of seven small worlds orbiting its host star, a red dwarf far smaller and dimmer than our sun.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2025
While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up.
—Eric Lagatta, AZCentral.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Just the same, the Chiefs still have some stuff going for them that no one else in the NFL does — all orbiting around the mind-meld between one of the greatest offensive minds in league history and one of its most special talents.
—Kansas City Star, 4 Sep. 2025
The overlap between devoted Monopoly heads and Wicked stans is, well, two separate circles, orbiting each other but never meeting in the middle.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for orbiting
Verb
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Fans eagerly flipped through its pages, circling premiere dates and planning their weekly schedules around prime-time lineups.—
Marc Berman,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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On Day 8, Vengrinovich noticed a helicopter circling along the peak of the mountain about 4,000 meters up.—
David Chiu,
PEOPLE,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That same sense of gravity is felt by golfers traversing the dynamic dunes.—
Tim Corlett,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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Sure, there were attacks and counterattacks and waves of soldiers traversing across No Man’s Land.—
Michael Jerome Plunkett
September 5,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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No other spacecraft has probed beneath the clouds encircling Jupiter the way that Juno has, or has imaged our Solar System’s largest planet so comprehensively and over such extended periods of time.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
3 Sep. 2025
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Nonetheless, its economy has largely adapted to Western sanctions, and Russian forces are advancing in the Donbas, now encircling the city of Pokrovsk and steadily advancing toward Kostyantynivka.—
Joshua Yaffa,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Orbiting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/orbiting. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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