eclipse
/ɪˈklɪps/
eclipse noun: an alignment of astronomical objects whereby one object comes between the observer (or notional observer) and another object, thus obscuring the latter.
Noun
eclipse (countable and uncountable, plural eclipses)
- An alignment of astronomical objects whereby one object comes between the observer (or notional observer) and another object, thus obscuring the latter.
- Especially, an alignment whereby a planetary object (for example, the Moon) comes between the Sun and another planetary object (for example, the Earth), resulting in a shadow being cast by the middle planetary object onto the other planetary object.
- A seasonal state of plumage in some birds, notably ducks, adopted temporarily after the breeding season and characterised by a dull and scruffy appearance.
- Obscurity, decline, downfall.
- a. 1618, Walter Raleigh, quoted in Eclipse, entry in 1805, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Volume 2, unnumbered page,
All the posterity of our first parents suffered a perpetual eclipse of spiritual life. - As in the soft and sweet eclipse,
When soul meets soul on lovers' lips.1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, published 1839, page 340
- a. 1618, Walter Raleigh, quoted in Eclipse, entry in 1805, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Volume 2, unnumbered page,
Verb
eclipse (third-person singular simple present eclipses, present participle eclipsing, simple past and past participle eclipsed)
- Of astronomical or atmospheric bodies, to cause an eclipse.
- The Moon eclipsed the Sun.
- She turned to the casement on which the moon was shining; for the high wind had driven aside the clouds, whose huge dark masses threatened soon to eclipse the pale and dim circle of passing light.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 184
- To overshadow; to be better or more noticeable than.
- For, till I see them here, by doubtful fear / My joy of liberty is half eclips'd.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- [H]is ſupercilious glances grevv humbled, yea, his dazeling ſplendor (eclipſt in the ſetting [i.e., death] of his Maſter) becomes quickly darkned: […]1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book II, page 206
- Synonyms:
- upstage
- To undergo eclipsis.
eclipse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
eclipse in Hindi
- passage of a planetary object between others
- ग्रहण grahaṇ
eclipse in Tamil
- passage of a planetary object between others
- கிரகணம் kirakaṇam
eclipse in Marathi
- passage of a planetary object between others
- ग्रहण grahaṇ
eclipse in Urdu
- passage of a planetary object between others
- گرہن grahan
More languagesFewer languages
- eclipse in Bengali
- অন্ধকার ondhokar
- eclipse in Telugu
- గ్రహణము grahaṇamu
- eclipse in Malayalam
- ഗ്രഹണം grahaṇaṁ
- eclipse in Kannada
- ಗ್ರಹಣ, ಕತ್ತಲು ಕವಿಯುವಿಕೆ, ಆಪಾತಪಥ, ಕ್ರಾಂತಿವೃತ್ತ
- eclipse in Punjabi
- ਗ੍ਰਹਿਣ grahiṇ
- eclipse in Gujarati
- ગ્રહણ
- eclipse in Sanskrit
- उपराग uparāga, ग्रहण grahaṇa
- eclipse in Nepali
- ग्रहण grahaṇ
- eclipse in Tagalog
- eklipse, laho, takip-silim
- eclipse in Arabic
- كُسُوف kusūf, خُسُوف ḵusūf
- eclipse in Malay
- gerhana
- eclipse in Indonesian
- gerhana, eklips
- eclipse in Persian
- گرفت gereft
- eclipse in Thai
- คราส krâat, อุปราคา
- eclipse in Vietnamese
- thiên thực
Examples of eclipse in a sentence
- All her other playthings went into eclipse and the doings of the Geezenstacks occupied most of her waking thoughts.1943, Fredric Brown, The Geezenstacks:
- Yet despite the “T’ang” character of the T’ien-t’ai school, it entered an almost total eclipse during the first half of the T’ang dynasty.1973, Stanley Weinstein, “Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T’ang Buddhism”, in Arthur F. Wright, Denis Twitchett, editors...
- The Util.System namespace eclipses the top-level System namespace.2005, Sean Campbell, Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for developers, page 56:
- Everything about her year-old restaurant […] reflects her love of bringing people to the table for good, simple food that's not eclipsed by bells and whistles.2007, Cincinnati Magazine, page 81:
Synonyms of eclipse
Forms of eclipse
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | eclipses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | eclipses |
| present participle | eclipsing |
| past participle | eclipsed |
| past | eclipsed |
Origin of eclipse
From Middle English eclipse, from Old French eclipse, from Latin eclīpsis, from Ancient Greek ἔκλειψις (ékleipsis, “eclipse”), from ἐκλείπω (ekleípō, “to abandon, go missing, vanish”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) and λείπω (leípō, “to leave behind”). Doublet of eclipsis. See also ellipse, ellipsis.
Words formed from eclipse
Words that rhyme with eclipse
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about eclipse
- What does eclipse mean?
- Eclipse means an alignment of astronomical objects whereby one object comes between the observer (or notional observer) and another object, thus obscuring the latter.
- What is eclipse in Hindi?
- Eclipse in Hindi is ग्रहण (grahaṇ). See Eclipse meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use eclipse in a sentence?
- All her other playthings went into eclipse and the doings of the Geezenstacks occupied most of her waking thoughts.
- What part of speech is eclipse?
- Eclipse can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce eclipse?
- Eclipse is pronounced /ɪˈklɪps/.
- What is the plural of eclipse?
- The plural of eclipse is eclipses.
Words near eclipse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: eclipse (page history and authors); eclipse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਗ੍ਰਹਿਣ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); eclipse (Gujarati, 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-eclipse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “eclipse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eclipse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.