noun

meteor

MEE-tih-uh

noun

A streak of light in the night sky caused by a small piece of space debris burning up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere; a shooting star.

"We stayed up late to watch meteors streak across the sky during the shower."

"A bright meteor lit up the horizon for a split second."

How to Use Meteor

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA "shooting star" — a bright streak of light caused by space debris burning up in the atmosphere.

Common mistake

A meteor is the streak of light you see; if the object survives and lands on Earth, the rock itself is called a meteorite. The object in space before it enters the atmosphere is a meteoroid.

Easily confused with

meteorite → meteoroid

Common pairings

meteor shower shooting meteor

Word Forms

meteored past tense, meteors plural, meteors singular

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

We stayed up late to watch _____ streak across the sky during the shower.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek meteoron ("thing high up in the air"), from meta- + aeiro ("to lift, raise"). Originally covered any atmospheric phenomenon, but the everyday sense narrowed to shooting stars.