Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Astronomy Any of numerous small celestial bodies that revolve around the sun, with orbits lying chiefly between Mars and Jupiter and characteristic diameters between a few and several hundred kilometers. Also called minor planet, planetoid.
- n. Zoology See starfish.
- adj. Star-shaped.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Star-like.
- Having a flower like that of an aster.
- n. One of the small planets, 280 or more in number, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter: more accurately called planetoids. See planetoid.
- n. One of the Asteroidea; a starfish, in a wide sense.
Wiktionary
- n. astronomy A naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star
- n. astronomy In the Solar system, such a body that orbits within the orbit of Jupiter
- n. zoology Any member of the taxonomic class Asteroidea; a starfish
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A starlike body; esp. one of the numerous small planets whose orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter; -- called also
planetoids andminor planets .
WordNet 3.0
- adj. shaped like a star
- n. any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter)
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής, from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astēr, "star") + εἶδος (eidos, "form"). (Wiktionary)
- From Greek asteroeidēs, starlike : astēr, star; see ster-3 in Indo-European roots + -oeidēs, -oid. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“* And the only thing that can stop this asteroid is your liberal arts degree.”
“The explanation for the 'asteroid' is a rather interesting SF-nal idea, but Roberts doesn't really go anywhere with it, he leaves it hanging.”
“A large asteroid is on a collision course with Earth.”
“What†™ s the trajectory of the asteroid? †“Tracking stations report that the asteroid is heading out of the ecliptic.”
365 tomorrows » featured writer : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“What if we go back to the GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDD standard, but the asteroid is made of GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLD?”
Matthew Yglesias » Kinsley’s Transcendental Deduction of Hyperinflation
“That means no posting here for a day or two (unless something important happens like NASA announces an asteroid is heading toward earth).”
“Do we know when the next asteroid is going to hit?”
“An asteroid is going to come whizzing by, as the Bad Astronomer points out.”
“Real Science: New radar observations have revealed that a near-Earth asteroid is actually three rocks.”
“CNN would poll the public opinion by asking the question "Do you fear that Obama's plan to blow up the asteroid is too expensive and might not work?”
CNN Poll: President's approval on health care under 50 percent
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘asteroid’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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Words that start with A
alphabet, alligator, ate, actual, annual, activity, analyze, ability, astronaut, add, ape, aches and 20 more...
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-oids
words taking the suffix -oid. because i wanted to use the word zomboid as in "having the likeness of a zombie". and yes, flavenoids is adopted. we'll tell her when she's older...
zomboid, rhomboid, planetoid, factoid, humanoid, asteroid, trapezoid, alkaloid, android, voidoid, woidies, metroid and 22 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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-oid
denoting resemblance
factoid, rhomboid, asteroid, anthropoid, android, spheroid, trapezoid, trapezoidal
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Parts of the Universe
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Words of Dinosaurology
This quickly got bigger and weirder than originally intended, so now it's housing terms that relate to the study of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. See also Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, Ichthy...
zygopophyses, ziphodont, plesiomorphic, cleidoic, endothermy, ectothermy, viviparous, vertebrae, cervical, dorsal, sacral, caudal and 628 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2050 more...
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ephemerides
being words related to astronomy, stellar cartography, and the music of the spheres, including names of planets, stars and constellations
ephemerides, ascension, declination, apogee, planet, star, constellation, galaxy, system, syzygy, ecliptic, sun and 202 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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words... of the FUTURE
robot, automaton, dirigible, nebula, pangalactic, starscape, terran, photon, graviton, superstring, beep, dome and 54 more...
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alterboy's Words
alphabet, arithmetic, asymtote, acrimonious, asteroid, apostrophe, atrocious, allegorical, appetizing, accidental, aeorta, improvolution and 35 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for asteroid.
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