Link Centre Dictionary

nova

UK/ˈnəʊ.və/ US/ˈnoʊ.və/ fairly common uk

noun

1.

a star that ejects some of its material in the form of a cloud and become more luminous in the process

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • classical nova
  • dwarf nova
  • failed supernova
  • nova remnant
  • quark nova
  • recurrent nova
  • red nova
  • stellar nova

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.