planet
noun
Simple meaning
A large round object in space, like Earth or Mars, that moves around a star.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
planuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈplænət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
astronomycurrent
A body which is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (generally resulting in being an ellipsoid) but not enough to attain nuclear fusion and, in IAU usage, which directly orbits a star (or multiple star) and dominates the region of its orbit; specifically, in the case of the Solar system, the eight major bodies of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Construed with the or this: The Earth.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (astronomy, current) A body which is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (generally resulting in being an ellipsoid) but not enough to attain nuclear fusion and, in IAU usage, which directly orbits a star (or multiple star) and dominates the region of its orbit; specifically, in the case of the Solar system, the eight major bodies of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Planet is a neutral, factual word used in everyday and scientific English.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Very common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Education/classroom
- Everyday conversation
Usage note
With “the”, it normally means Earth: “protect the planet” is about our own world, not planets in general.
Nearby words
- world , often means human society, not the astronomical body
- globe , emphasises Earth as a whole sphere
- moon , orbits a planet rather than a star
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use planet
- “Earth is the only planet we know that supports life.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: body which is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (generally resulting in being an ellipsoid) but not enough to attain nuclear fusion and
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.