PLANETOID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does planetoid mean? 

• PLANETOID (noun)
  The noun PLANETOID has 1 sense:

1. any of numerous small celestial bodies that move around the sun

  Familiarity information: PLANETOID used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLANETOID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous small celestial bodies that move around the sun

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

minor planet; planetoid

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

celestial body; heavenly body (natural objects visible in the sky)

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

asteroid (any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter))

KBO; Kuiper belt object (any of many minor planets in the Kuiper belt outside the orbit of Neptune at the edge of the solar system)

Instance hyponyms:

Quaoar (a planetoid discovered in 2002)

Sedna (a planetoid of rock and ice about three-quarters the size of Pluto discovered in 2003; the most distant object known to orbit around the sun)

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

solar system (the sun with the celestial bodies that revolve around it in its gravitational field)

 Context examples 

Earth is thought to have gradually coalesced in fiery collisions of smaller planetoids – and those hellish conditions can now explain an enduring scientific mystery.

(Fiery Collisions That Gave Birth to Earth Could Have Evaporated 40% of Our World, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)