GALAXY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does galaxy mean? 

• GALAXY (noun)
  The noun GALAXY has 3 senses:

1. a splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)

2. tufted evergreen perennial herb having spikes of tiny white flowers and glossy green round to heart-shaped leaves that become coppery to maroon or purplish in fall

3. (astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust

  Familiarity information: GALAXY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GALAXY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tufted evergreen perennial herb having spikes of tiny white flowers and glossy green round to heart-shaped leaves that become coppery to maroon or purplish in fall

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

beetleweed; coltsfoot; galax; Galax urceolata; galaxy; wandflower

Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Holonyms ("galaxy" is a member of...):

genus Galax (evergreen herbs of southeastern United States)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

extragalactic nebula; galaxy

Context example:

'extragalactic nebula' is a former name for 'galaxy'

Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Meronyms (members of "galaxy"):

star ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior)

Meronyms (substance of "galaxy"):

cosmic dust (clouds of particles or gases occurring throughout interstellar space)

Domain category:

astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "galaxy"):

spiral galaxy; spiral nebula (a galaxy having a spiral structure; arms containing younger stars spiral out from old stars at the center)

Great Attractor (a massive grouping of galaxies in the direction of Centaurus and Hydra whose gravitational attraction is believed to cause deviations in the paths of other galaxies)

Milky Way; Milky Way Galaxy; Milky Way System (the galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky)

Instance hyponyms:

Magellanic Cloud (either of two small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way; visible near the south celestial pole)

Holonyms ("galaxy" is a member of...):

cosmos; creation; existence; macrocosm; universe; world (everything that exists anywhere)

Derivation:

galactic (of or relating to a galaxy (especially our galaxy the Milky Way))

 Context examples 

However, it displays odd twists in its structure that were probably caused by an interaction with a large neighbouring galaxy.

(A Galaxy on the Edge, ESO)

All galaxies, according to this theory, form and are embedded within clouds of dark matter.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)

One of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions in our galaxy, the Omega, or Swan, Nebula, came to resemble the shape resembling a swan's neck we see today only relatively recently.

(SOFIA Reveals How the Swan Nebula Hatched, NASA)

Supermassive black holes are thought to reside in the centers of all galaxies.

(NuSTAR sees rare blurring of black hole light, NASA)

The galaxy is the most luminous galaxy found to date and belongs to a new class of objects recently discovered by WISE — extremely luminous infrared galaxies, or ELIRGs.

(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)

The object has since been named ULX-4 because it is the fourth ULX identified in this galaxy.

(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A small, recently discovered asteroid — or perhaps a comet — appears to have originated from outside the solar system, coming from somewhere else in our galaxy.

(Small Asteroid or Comet 'Visits' from Beyond the Solar System, NASA)

The remaining toasts were DOCTOR MELL; Mrs. MICAWBER (who gracefully bowed her acknowledgements from the side-door, where a galaxy of beauty was elevated on chairs, at once to witness and adorn the gratifying scene), Mrs. RIDGER BEGS (late Miss Micawber); Mrs. MELL; WILKINS MICAWBER, ESQUIRE, JUNIOR (who convulsed the assembly by humorously remarking that he found himself unable to return thanks in a speech, but would do so, with their permission, in a song); Mrs. MICAWBER'S FAMILY (well known, it is needless to remark, in the mother-country), &c. &c. &c.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Again I looked out: we were passing a church; I saw its low broad tower against the sky, and its bell was tolling a quarter; I saw a narrow galaxy of lights too, on a hillside, marking a village or hamlet.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Using this method, the team uncovered dark matter clumps along the telescope's line of sight to the quasars, as well as in and around the intervening lensing galaxies.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)