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meteor

me·teor

UK/ˈmiːtɪ.ə/ US/ˈmiːtɪɔː/ fairly common

noun

1.

a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth''s atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode

Synonyms
2.

(astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth''s atmosphere

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle French météore, from Old French, from Latin meteorum, from Ancient Greek μετέωρον (metéōron), from μετέωρος (metéōros, “raised from the ground, hanging, lofty”), from μετά (metá, “in the midst of, among, between”) (English meta) + ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift, to heave, to raise up”). The original sense of “atmospheric phenomenon” gave rise to meteorology, but the meaning of "meteor" is now restricted to extraterrestrial objects burning up as they enter the atmosphere.

Phrases

  • Great Meteor
  • meteor bumper
  • meteor hammer
  • meteor shower
  • meteor steel
  • meteor storm
  • meteor strike

Related words

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Broader terms

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Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.