METEOR

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does meteor mean? 

• METEOR (noun)
  The noun METEOR has 2 senses:

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

2. 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

  Familiarity information: METEOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• METEOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

meteor; meteoroid

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

estraterrestrial body; extraterrestrial object (a natural object existing outside the earth and outside the earth's atmosphere)

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 "meteor"):

meteorite (stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface)

meteor swarm (a group of meteoroids with similar paths)

Derivation:

meteoric (pertaining to or consisting of meteors or meteoroids)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

meteor; shooting star

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

light; visible light; visible radiation ((physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation)

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

bolide; fireball (an especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding))

Holonyms ("meteor" is a part of...):

meteor shower; meteor stream (a transient shower of meteors when a meteor swarm enters the earth's atmosphere)

 Context examples 

The study's authors cross-referenced temperatures suggestive of ice with other data, such as reservoirs of ice detected by radar or seen after meteor impacts.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

Not even the most intense meteor storms on Earth have produced as strong a response as this one.

(Mars Spacecraft Reveal Comet Flyby Effects on Martian Atmosphere, NASA)

The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts.

(Vitamin B3 might have been made in space, delivered to Earth by meteorites, NASA)

The meteor shower, which occurs each year in July or August, will see hundreds of meteors pass through the sky in an event that will be visible around the world.

(Perseid Meteor Shower Provides Opening Act for Solar Eclipse, VOA News)

It is thought that the fragments may have been part of a meteor shower, as at least 10 of the 70 samples collected belong to the same type of meteorite.

(Huge Haul of Extraterrestrial Material Recovered from Iranian Desert, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Had the germs of it arrived from outside upon a meteor?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From that point, the spacecraft will begin to burn up like a meteor.

(Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn, NASA)

Or if lightning hit somewhere that had phosphorous, or a meteor had a phosphorous content, could it generate an impact to make phosphine?

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This series of events can be likened to the meteor blast that shattered windows in Chelyabinsk, Russia, last year.

(NASA Mars weathercam helps find big new crater, NASA)

The golden secretary darted through the room like a meteor with a dashing French-woman who carpeted the floor with her pink satin train.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)