| / English Dictionary |
GALAXY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A splendid assemblage (especially of famous people)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):
accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust
Example:
'extragalactic nebula' is a former name for 'galaxy'
Synonyms:
extragalactic nebula; galaxy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):
accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)
Meronyms (members of "galaxy"):
star ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior)
Meronyms (substance of "galaxy"):
cosmic dust (clouds of particles or gases occurring throughout interstellar space)
Domain category:
astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "galaxy"):
spiral galaxy; spiral nebula (a galaxy having a spiral structure; arms containing younger stars spiral out from old stars at the center)
Great Attractor (a massive grouping of galaxies in the direction of Centaurus and Hydra whose gravitational attraction is believed to cause deviations in the paths of other galaxies)
Milky Way; Milky Way Galaxy; Milky Way System (the galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky)
Instance hyponyms:
Magellanic Cloud (either of two small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way; visible near the south celestial pole)
Holonyms ("galaxy" is a member of...):
cosmos; creation; existence; macrocosm; universe; world (everything that exists anywhere)
Derivation:
galactic (of or relating to a galaxy (especially our galaxy the Milky Way))
Sense 3
Meaning:
Tufted evergreen perennial herb having spikes of tiny white flowers and glossy green round to heart-shaped leaves that become coppery to maroon or purplish in fall
Synonyms:
beetleweed; coltsfoot; galax; Galax urceolata; galaxy; wandflower
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("galaxy" is a kind of...):
herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)
Holonyms ("galaxy" is a member of...):
genus Galax (evergreen herbs of southeastern United States)
Context examples:
Spiral galaxies throughout the Universe take on all manner of orientations with respect to Earth.
(A Galaxy on the Edge, ESO)
A remote galaxy shining with the light of more than 300 trillion suns has been discovered using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)
Its center is filled with more than 100 of the galaxy's most massive young stars.
(SOFIA Reveals How the Swan Nebula Hatched, NASA)
The green blob near the bottom of the galaxy wasn't visible during the first NuSTAR observation but was burning bright at the start of a second observation 10 days later.
(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that makes up the bulk of the universe's mass and creates the scaffolding upon which galaxies are built.
(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)
We see other galaxies, such as NGC 3521, at angles.
(A Galaxy on the Edge, ESO)
Because light from the galaxy hosting the black hole has traveled 12.5 billion years to reach us, astronomers are seeing the object as it was in the distant past.
(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)
Massive stars, like those in the Swan Nebula, release so much energy that they can change the evolution of entire galaxies.
(SOFIA Reveals How the Swan Nebula Hatched, NASA)
These violent events can briefly produce enough visible light to outshine entire galaxies consisting of billions of stars.
(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The eight quasars and galaxies were aligned so precisely that the warping effect, called gravitational lensing, produced four distorted images of each quasar.
(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)
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