comet
Plural: comets
Noun
- A celestial body with a visible coma and tail, seen near the sun.
- (astronomy) a relatively small extraterrestrial body consisting of a frozen mass that travels around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit
- A small Solar System body consisting mainly of volatile ice, dust and particles of rock whose very eccentric solar orbit periodically brings it close enough to the Sun that the ice vaporises to form an atmosphere, or coma, which may be blown by the solar wind to produce a visible tail.
- A celestial phenomenon with the appearance of such a body.
- Any of several species of hummingbird found in the Andes.
Examples
- His seven-letter play streaked across the board like a COMET, scoring big points.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star and Latin crīnīta stēlla (“comet”, literally “(long) haired star”).
Synonyms
faxed star, ☄
Scrabble Score: 9
comet: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcomet: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
comet: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 11
comet: valid Words With Friends Word