nova
UK/ˈnəʊ.və//ˈnoʊ.və/
nova noun: any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star. Also the ellipsis of classical nova.
Noun (1)
- Any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.
- In these stellar pairings, if the two stars are close together, the white dwarf will siphon mass away from its companion and have an outburst called a nova. And when the white dwarf accumulates too much mass, it will collapse and explode in a supernova.2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2024
Proper noun (1) capitalized: NOVA
NOVA
- Alternative letter-case form of NoVA (“North Virginia”).
Noun (2) capitalized: NOVA
NOVA (plural NOVAs)
- Initialism of notification of vehicle arrival.
- Acronym of neuro-oncological ventral antigen.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Nova
Nova
- A female given name from Latin.
- Did you notice the dog which in the winter sports scenes is clasped in the arms of the child-star, Nova Pilbeam?1935, Berta Ruck, A Story-Teller Tells the Truth, Hutchinson, page 266
- He murmurs to himself, "Her body is twenty-two, but she is in the infancy of a second life. I will call her Nova, the New One."1951, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mercury Press, page 71
Noun (3) capitalized: Nova
Nova (uncountable)
- Smoked Nova Scotia salmon.
Proper noun (3) capitalized: Nova
Nova
- Alternative letter-case form of NoVA.
Proper noun (4) capitalized: NoVA
NoVA
- Acronym of Northern Virginia.
Also used as
nova is also the ellipsis of classical nova.
nova is also the plural of novum.
nova meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
nova in Hindi
- नोवा
nova in Marathi
- नोवा
nova in Urdu
- نووا
nova in Bengali
- নোভা, নভা
More languagesFewer languages
- nova in Malayalam
- നോവ, നോവാ
- nova in Kannada
- ನೊವಾ
- nova in Punjabi
- ਨੋਵਾ
- nova in Gujarati
- નોવા
- nova in Odia
- ନୋଭା
- nova in Nepali
- नोभा, नोवा
- nova in Arabic
- مُسْتَعِر mustaʕir
- nova in Persian
- نواختر now-axtar
- nova in Vietnamese
- tân tinh
Forms of nova
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | novae |
| plural | novas |
| alternative form | novums |
| plural | NOVAs |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form | Nova |
| alternative form | NOVA |
| alternative form | NoVa |
Origin of nova
Feminine nominative singular of Latin novus (“new”). The feminine is used since stella (“star”) is feminine; thus nova is a shortening of nova stella (“new star”), first used in this sense in 1573 by Tycho Brahe.
Blend of novum + Latin -a. From the Latin -a suffix used as the plural suffix form for singular words ending with -um (an inflection of -us).
From Latin nova (“new”).
Words formed from nova
- NOVA1
- classical nova
- dwarf nova
- failed supernova
- hypernova
- kilonova
- macronova
- micronova
- millinova
- novalike
- nova-like
- nova remnant
- quark nova
- recurrent nova
- red nova
- stellar nova
- supernova
- supernova imposter
- supernova remnant
- unnova
Phrases with nova
Words that rhyme with nova
Questions about nova
- What does nova mean?
- Nova means any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.
- What is nova in Hindi?
- Nova in Hindi is नोवा. See Nova meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is nova?
- Nova can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce nova?
- Nova is pronounced /ˈnəʊ.və/ (UK).
- What is the plural of nova?
- The plural of nova is novae.
Words near nova in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nova (page history and authors); NOVA (page history and authors); Nova (page history and authors); NoVA (page history and authors); nova (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nova (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-nova.wav.
Cite this entry: “nova.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nova. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.