Word.ws English Dictionary

Halley's Comet

/ˌhæliːz ˈkɒmɪt/

Halley's Comet proper noun: a great comet which can be seen from Earth every 75–76 years.

Proper noun (1)

Halley's Comet

  1. A great comet which can be seen from Earth every 75–76 years.
    • In the London papers of May 3 we have the following accounts […] It had a short broad tail in a direction opposite the sun ; as Dr Halley's comet ought to have ; being much foreshortened […]The Scots Magazine, Vol. XXI (April 1759), p. 208
    Synonyms:
    1P/Halley, Comet Halley, Halley

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Halley's comet

Halley's comet

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Halley's Comet.

Synonyms of Halley's Comet

Forms of Halley's Comet

alternative formHalley's comet

Origin of Halley's Comet

Circa 1758. Named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, who first computed its orbit and established its periodicity. Halley predicted the return of the comet (then last seen in 1682) in 1705; when it did return in late 1758, it quickly acquired this name.

Questions about Halley's Comet

What does Halley's Comet mean?
Halley's Comet means a great comet which can be seen from Earth every 75–76 years.
What part of speech is Halley's Comet?
Halley's Comet is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Halley's Comet?
Halley's Comet is pronounced /ˌhæliːz ˈkɒmɪt/.

Words near Halley's Comet in the dictionary

  1. Hallett
  2. Halletts
  3. Hallettsville
  4. Hallewell
  5. Halley
  6. Halley's Comet
  7. Halley's method
  8. Halleyan
  9. Halleys
  10. Hallford
  11. Hallfords

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Halley's Comet (page history and authors); Halley's comet (page history and authors). 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.

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Cite this entry: “Halley's Comet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/halley%27s_comet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.