Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small natural or artificial satellite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A little moon: applied to the small bodies of which the rings of Saturn are composed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun astronomy a very small body orbiting a planet, often as part of a ring.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From moon + the diminutive suffix -let.

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Examples

  • The Lancer analysis net had stopped calling the moonlet by that name, but he refused to.

    Across The Sea Of Suns Benford, Gregory, 1941- 1984

  • Message Bearer was even now issuing its final direction to the nickel-and-iron residue of an icy moonlet.

    I Don’t Understand ? Jack Varnell 2010

  • Tom sat up, grabbed a telescope, and tracked it on the moonlet.

    Golden State 2010

  • They were amazed to learn about the uncharted moonlet.

    Golden State 2010

  • The moonlet was growing bigger by the moment as the Star Spear raced toward it!

    Golden State 2010

  • The contorted moonlet dropped away, dwindled, vanished.

    I Don’t Understand ? Jack Varnell 2010

  • The tiny moonlet, only a hundred miles in diameter, was so close to Jupiter that it spent much of its time eclipsed in the planet's enormous cone of shadow.

    Tin 2010

  • So near was the moment of collision that the ship almost grazed the hurtling moonlet.

    Golden State 2010

  • Though this could indicate many things, it began to seem more and more likely that the tiny moonlet was abandoned.

    Tin 2010

  • "If you stay in this path, we'll crash that moonlet when it comes back."

    Golden State 2010

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