planet

[ plan-it ]

noun

1. Astronomy.
   1. Also called major planet. any of the eight large heavenly bodies revolving about the sun and shining by reflected light: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune, in the order of their proximity to the sun. Until 2006, Pluto was classified as a planet ninth in order from the sun; it has been reclassified as a dwarf planet.
   2. a similar body revolving about a star other than the sun.
   3. (formerly) a celestial body moving in the sky, as distinguished from a fixed star, applied also to the sun and moon.
2. Astrology. the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto: considered sources of energy or consciousness in the interpretation of horoscopes.

planet

/ ˈplænɪt /

noun

1. Also calledmajor planet any of the eight celestial bodies, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, that revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits and are illuminated by light from the sun
2. Also calledextrasolar planet any other celestial body revolving around a star, illuminated by light from that star
3. See house
   astrology any of the planets of the solar system, excluding the earth but including the sun and moon, each thought to rule one or sometimes two signs of the zodiac See also house

planet

/ plăn′ĭt /

1. In the traditional model of solar systems, a celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the Sun, around which it revolves.
2. A celestial body that orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to assume nearly a round shape, clears out dust and debris from the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite of another planet. The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto was considered to be a planet until its reclassification in 2006 as a dwarf planet. A planetlike body with more than about ten times the mass of Jupiter would be considered a brown dwarf rather than a planet.
3. See also extrasolar planet

planet

1. An object in orbit around a star . A planet does not give off its own light ; rather, it shines by reflecting sunlight. Planets close to the sun are rocky. Those farther out consist mostly of gas es and liquids .

Notes

There are nine major planets, including the Earth , in orbit around our sun, along with many asteroids . ( See solar system .)

Scientists have discovered evidence for the existence of many planets that circle other stars.

Word History and Origins

Origin of planet¹

1250–1300; Middle English planete (< Old French planète ) < Late Latin planēta, planētēs (found only in plural planētae ) < Greek ( astéres ) planḗtai literally, wandering (stars)

Word History and Origins

Origin of planet¹

C12: via Old French from Late Latin planēta, from Greek planētēs wanderer, from planaein to wander

Example Sentences

A new analysis of meteorites from the inner solar system — home to the four rocky planets — suggests that Earth’s building blocks delivered enough water to account for all the H2O buried within the planet.

From Science News

For the first time, astronomers have captured a portrait of a distant family of planets and their sunlike star.

From Science News For Students

A team of researchers led by David Armstrong at the University of Warwick in the UK recently trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify “exoplanets”—that is, planets outside our solar system—from NASA data.

From Fortune

Most young people I know have already decided not to have children, because they don’t want their kids growing up on a doomed planet.

From Fortune

The solar system is the group of planets, including Earth, that orbit the sun.

From Science News For Students

Andy Serkis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Do you want to be on the wrong side of history, Academy?

From The Daily Beast

In fact, Mexico buys and sells more US goods than any other country on the planet except for Canada.

From The Daily Beast

Good for her—but what a shameful indictment of Planet Fashion.

From The Daily Beast

With Batman and Planet of the Apes, you seem to be operating around 15 years ahead of the culture.

From The Daily Beast

Why was a master photographer recruited to work with one of the most successful liquor brands on the planet?

From The Daily Beast

Reckoning that Neptune is the outermost planet of the solar system, that system would have a diameter of 5,584 millions of miles.

From Project Gutenberg

Cassini observed, by the position of certain spots, the revolution of the planet Venus on its axis.

From Project Gutenberg

Meadows began to play inner planet combinations that occasionally paid, though at short odds.

From Project Gutenberg

Our poor planet will be but a silent ghost whirling on its dark path in the starlight.

From Project Gutenberg

As the details of this planet are to occupy us during nearly all the remainder of this work, we shall for the present pass it by.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• asteroid
• earth
• globe
• sphere
• world