nova

CEFRB2

/ˈnəʊ.və/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A star that suddenly becomes much brighter.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Ellipsis of classical nova

Examples

  • On the language website, he could not find the selection for Lingua Franca Nova.

  • When their home star went nova, their civilization was destroyed.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈnoʊ.və/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.

More examples

In context

  • Did you notice the dog which in the winter sports scenes is clasped in the arms of the child-star, Nova Pilbeam?

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Astronomers observed a blank in the night sky that suddenly shone brightly.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Feminine nominative singular of Latin novus (“new”). The feminine is used since stella (“star”) is feminine; thus nova is a shortening of nova stella (“new star”), first used in this sense in 1573 by Tycho Brahe.