Asteroidea

[ as-tuh-roi-dee-uh ]

noun

1. the class comprising the starfishes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Asteroidea¹

< New Latin, equivalent to Aster ( ias ) a starfish genus (< Greek asterías starry, derivative of astḗr star ) + -oidea -oidea

Example Sentences

That much is apparent on “Asteroidea,” its engrossing debut album of free improvisations, released in October.

From New York Times

He recently joined two other serious talents — the pianist Kris Davis and the drummer Eric McPherson — to form the Borderlands Trio, which released its debut this year, the freely improvised “Asteroidea.”

From New York Times

There was also sufficient comprehension of the differences between the main classes of Echinoderms—the sea-urchins or Echinoidea, the starfish or Asteroidea, the brittle-stars and their allies known as Ophiuroidea, the worm-like Holothurians, the feather-stars and sea-lilies called Crinoidea, with their extinct relatives the sac-like Cystidea, the bud-formed Blastoidea, and the flattened Edrioasteroidea—while within the larger of these classes, such as Echinoidea and Crinoidea, fair working classifications had been established.

From Project Gutenberg

To this point we shall recur; palaeontology, though it suggests a clue, does not furnish an actual link either between Echinoidea and Asteroidea, or between those classes and Pelmatozoa.

From Project Gutenberg

First, a comparison of the relative numbers of the representatives of the various classes at different epochs; according to this they may be placed in the following order, with the oldest first: Cystidea, Crinoidea, Blastoidea, Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea.

From Project Gutenberg