orbit

UK/ˈɔː.bɪt//ˈɔɹ.bɪt/

orbit noun: an elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.

Noun

orbit (countable and uncountable, plural orbits)

An elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.
One complete circuit round an orbited body.
- The Moon's orbit around the Earth takes nearly one month to complete.
(uncountable) The state of moving in an orbit.
The path of an electron around an atomic nucleus.
(pinball) A path for the ball on the outer edge of the playfield, usually connected so that the ball entering in one end will come out of the other.
(figuratively) A sphere of influence; an area or extent of activity, interest, or control.
- In the post WWII era, several eastern European countries came into the orbit of the Soviet Union.
- The convenience store was a heavily travelled point in her daily orbit, as she purchased both cigarettes and lottery tickets there.
The bony cavity in the skull of a vertebrate containing the eyeball.

Synonyms:

eye socket, cranial orbit
1. The area around the eye of a bird or other animal.
A collection of points related by the evolution function of a dynamical system.
The subset of elements of a set X to which a given element can be moved by members of a specified group of transformations that act on X.
(Texas hold 'em) The number of hands such that each player at the table has posted the big blind once.
- All right, I'll play one more orbit but then I'm leaving!
(informal) A state of increased excitement, activity, or anger.
- Dad went into orbit when I told him that I'd crashed the car.
- Given a veritable Pagan's Paddock by the Cats to work in on Friday night, Danger booted two goals in the first seven minutes to send Geelong fans into orbit.2017 September 18, Andrew McGarry, “AFL finals week two: The heroes and villains from the elimination semi-finals”, in ABC News, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2018

Verb

orbit (third-person singular simple present orbits, present participle orbiting, simple past and past participle orbited)

(transitive) To circle or revolve around another object or position.
- The Earth orbits the Sun.
- The satellite orbits the Lagrange point.
1. (transitive) To place an object (e.g. a satellite) into an orbit around a planet.
  - A rocket was used to orbit the satellite.
(transitive) To move around the general vicinity of something.
- The harried mother had a cloud of children orbiting her, begging for sweets.
Synonyms:

circumambulate, tag along
(transitive) To move in a circle.
(transitive) To center (around).
- I have orbited my entire life around you, and you know it, okay?2013, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight (motion picture), spoken by Jesse (Ethan Hawke)
(transitive, dating) To continue to follow or engage with someone by means of social media after breaking up with them.

orbit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

orbit in Hindi

path of one object around another: कक्षा kakṣā, मदार madār, भ्रमण bhramaṇ
sphere of influence: कक्षा kakṣā, प्रभाव क्षेत्र prabhāv kṣetra
area of activity: कार्यक्षेत्र kāryakṣetra, गतिविधि क्षेत्र gatividhi kṣetra
circle another object: कक्षा kakṣā, मदार madār, भ्रमण bhramaṇ

orbit in Tamil

path of one object around another: சுற்று cuṟṟu, சுற்றுப்பாதை cuṟṟuppātai
circle another object: சுற்று cuṟṟu

orbit in Marathi

path of one object around another: कक्षा kakṣā, भ्रमणकक्षा bhramaṇkakṣā
area of activity: कार्यक्षेत्र kāryakṣetra

orbit in Urdu

path of one object around another: مدار madār

More languagesFewer languages

orbit in Bengali: কক্ষপথ kokkhopoth
orbit in Telugu: కక్ష్య kakṣya, ప్రదక్షిణం pradakṣiṇaṁ
orbit in Malayalam: ഭ്രമണപഥം bhramaṇapathaṁ, ഭ്രമണ പഥം bhramaṇa pathaṁ, ഭ്രമണം ചെയ്യുക bhramaṇaṁ ceyyuka
orbit in Kannada: ಕಣ್ಣುಗುಳಿ, ಕಣ್ಣುಗೂಡು, ಕಣ್ಣುಕುಳಿ, ನೇತ್ರಕುಹರ
orbit in Punjabi: ਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਪੰਧ grhi pandh, ਪਥ path
orbit in Gujarati: ભ્રમણકક્ષા bhramaṇkakṣā
orbit in Sanskrit: कक्षा kakṣā
orbit in Pashto: مدار madār, څرخول carkhawəl
orbit in Tagalog: ligiran
orbit in Arabic: مَدَار madār, فَلَك falak
orbit in Malay: orbit
orbit in Persian: مدار madâr, دورادن, دوریدن
orbit in Thai: วงโคจร wong-koo-jɔɔn
orbit in Vietnamese: quỹ đạo
orbit in Myanmar: ပတ်လမ်း patlam:, လမ်း lam:
Sindhi: مَدارُ madāru

Examples of orbit in a sentence

There are habitable planets orbiting many of the stars near our Sun.
There is no doubting the fact that the Earth orbits the Sun.
The Moon is held in its orbit by the attraction of the Earth's gravity.

All 40 example sentences with orbit

Synonyms of orbit

Antonyms

deorbit

All synonyms and antonyms of orbit

Forms of orbit

Noun
plural	orbits
Verb
third-person singular present	orbits
present participle	orbiting
past participle	orbited
past	orbited

Plural of orbit: orbits

Origin of orbit

Inherited from Middle English orbite, orbita, from Latin orbita (“course, track, impression, mark”).

Words formed from orbit

Words that rhyme with orbit

Questions about orbit

What does orbit mean?: Orbit means an elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.
What is orbit in Hindi?: Orbit in Hindi is कक्षा (kakṣā), मदार (madār), भ्रमण (bhramaṇ). See Orbit meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is orbit?: Orbit can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce orbit?: Orbit is pronounced /ˈɔː.bɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of orbit?: The plural of orbit is orbits.

Words near orbit in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: orbit (page history and authors); orbit (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਪੰਧ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ભ્રમણકક્ષા (Gujarati) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-orbit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “orbit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/orbit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.