Star Meaning

/stɑː(ɹ)/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounAny small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the technical astronomical sense.

nounAny small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the technical astronomical sense., A planet thought to influence one's fate; (figuratively) fate or luck.

Not a star was to be seen in the sky.
We cannot necessarily see the star with the naked eye.
A bright star shone in the dark night sky.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
Sirius is the brightest ____ in the night sky, shining with its own light.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We watched the first ____ appear in the dark velvet sky as the sun began to set behind the hills.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr Proto-Germanic *sternǭ Proto-West Germanic *sternō Proto-West Germanic *sterrō Old English steorra Middle English sterre English star From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster; related to estoile, étoile, stella, and stelo. Cognates Cognate with Scots starn, ster (“star”), Yola starr, steor (“star”), Saterland Frisian Stiern (“star”), West Frisian stjer (“star”), Cimbrian stèrn (“star”), Dutch ster (“star”), German Stern (“star”), Luxembourgish Stär (“star”), Mòcheno stern (“star”), Vilamovian śtaom (“star”), Yiddish שטערן (shtern, “star”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål stjerne (“star”), Faroese stjørna (“star”), Gutnish stjännå (“star”), Icelandic stjarna (“star”), Norwegian Nynorsk skjødna, stjerne (“star”), Swedish stjärna (“star”), Crimean Gothic stein (“star”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō, “star”), French étoile (“star”), Istriot stila (“star”), Istro-Romanian ste (“star”), Italian stella (“star”), Megleno-Romanian steau̯ă (“star”), Mirandese streilha (“star”), Occitan estela (“star”), Portuguese estrela (“star”), Romansh staila (“star”), Romanian stea (“star”), Sardinian isteddu (“star”), Sicilian stidda (“star”), Spanish estrella (“star”), Venetan stéła (“star”), Walloon sitoele (“star”), Latin stēlla (“star”), Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”), Greek αστέρι (astéri, “star”), Old Armenian աստղ (astł, “star”), Persian ستاره (setâre, “star”), Tajik ситора (sitora, “star”), Pashto ستوری (storay, “star”), Mazanderani اساره (ëssâre, “star”), Northern Kurdish stêr (“star”), Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre, “star”), Zazaki astare (“star”), Ossetian стъалы (st’aly, “star”), Hindi तारा (tārā, “star”), Urdu تارا (tārā, “star”), Punjabi ਤਾਰਾ (tārā, “star”), Gujarati તારો (tāro, “star”), Sanskrit तारा (tārā, “star”).

"But O malignant and ill-boading Starres,[…]" — 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 112, column 2:
"Men bless their stars and call it luxury." — 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
"But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,[…]. By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 69–70:
"Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics." — 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:
"[…]on whom […] / Lavish Honour shower’d all her stars,[…]" — 1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 8, page 132:

Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
Sirius is the brightest ____ in the night sky, shining with its own light.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We watched the first ____ appear in the dark velvet sky as the sun began to set behind the hills.

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