asteroid
/ˈæst(ə)ɹɔɪd/
asteroid noun: a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and a dwarf planet, larger than a meteoroid and not a comet, that orbits a star and often has an irregular shape.
Noun (1)
asteroid (plural asteroids)
- A naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and a dwarf planet, larger than a meteoroid and not a comet, that orbits a star and often has an irregular shape.
- In the Solar System, such a body that orbits within the orbit of Jupiter.
- The orbital planes of asteroids, minor bodies that circle the Sun mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, are often more tilted ...2007, Hannu Karttunen et al., editors, Fundamental Astronomy, 5th edition, page 131
Noun (2)
asteroid (plural asteroids)
- Any member of the taxonomic class Asteroidea; a starfish.
asteroid meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
asteroid in Hindi
- astronomy: a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star
- क्षुद्रग्रह kṣudragrah, उपग्रह upagrah
asteroid in Tamil
- astronomy: a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star
- நுண்கோள் nuṇkōḷ
asteroid in Marathi
- astronomy: a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star
- लघुग्रह laghugrah
asteroid in Urdu
- astronomy: a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and is not a comet, that orbits a star
- سَیّارْچَہ saiyārca
More languagesFewer languages
- asteroid in Bengali
- গ্রহাণু grohanu
- asteroid in Telugu
- గ్రహశకలం grahaśakalaṁ
- asteroid in Malayalam
- ഛിന്നഗ്രഹം chinnagrahaṁ
- asteroid in Kannada
- ಕ್ಷುದ್ರ ಗ್ರಹ kṣudra graha
- asteroid in Punjabi
- ਐਸਟਰੋਇਡ
- asteroid in Gujarati
- લઘુગ્રહ laghugrah
- asteroid in Sinhala
- ක්ෂුද්ර ග්රහයා kṣudra grahayā, ග්රහක grahaka
- asteroid in Assamese
- গ্ৰহাণু grohanu
- asteroid in Nepali
- एस्टेरोइड, एस्टरोइड, ग्रहाणु
- asteroid in Pashto
- استرويد asteroyid
- asteroid in Tagalog
- malatala, asteroyde, asteroyd
- asteroid in Arabic
- كُوَيْكِب kuwaykib
- asteroid in Malay
- asteroid
- asteroid in Indonesian
- asteroid, planetoid
- asteroid in Thai
- ดาวเคราะห์น้อย daao-krɔ́-nɔ́ɔi
- asteroid in Vietnamese
- tiểu hành tinh
- asteroid in Myanmar
- ဥက္ကာပျံ ukka-pyam
- Sindhi
- گِرَھِڙِي girahirree
Examples of asteroid in a sentence
- For days telescopes surveyed the skies to recover the small asteroid.
- The asteroid belt consists of a collection of dust, rubble, and minor planets.
- A massive comet or asteroid appears to have ended the era of the dinosaurs.
Forms of asteroid
| plural | asteroids |
|---|
Origin of asteroid
]Introduced by German–British astronomer William Herschel in 1802 upon the suggestion of classical scholar Charles Burney Jr. (1757–1817), the son of music historian Charles Burney, a friend of Herschel's. Probably coined as a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής (asteroeidḗs, “starlike”), from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “celestial body”) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, aster + -oid.
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής (asteroeidḗs), from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) + εἶδος (eîdos, “form”). Analyzable as aster- + -oid. Piecewise doublet of etymology 1. Compare also the botanical taxon Asteroideae.
Words formed from asteroid
Phrases with asteroid
Words that rhyme with asteroid
Questions about asteroid
- What does asteroid mean?
- Asteroid means a naturally occurring solid object, which is smaller than a planet and a dwarf planet, larger than a meteoroid and not a comet, that orbits a star and often has an irregular shape.
- What is asteroid in Hindi?
- Asteroid in Hindi is क्षुद्रग्रह (kṣudragrah), उपग्रह (upagrah). See Asteroid meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is asteroid?
- Asteroid is a noun.
- How do you pronounce asteroid?
- Asteroid is pronounced /ˈæst(ə)ɹɔɪd/.
- What is the plural of asteroid?
- The plural of asteroid is asteroids.
Words near asteroid in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: asteroid (page history and authors); asteroid (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); asteroid (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-asteroid.ogg.
Cite this entry: “asteroid.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/asteroid. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.