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Meaning of Planetoid | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B2

Definitions

  1. An asteroid of any size
  2. An asteroid-like body in an orbit beyond the asteroid belt, such as a centaur or Kuiper belt object
  3. A larger, planetary, body in orbit around the Sun, such as Vesta or (candidate) dwarf planets such Eris or Sedna
  4. Any planetary body, including classical planets and moons: a planetary-mass object
  5. A dwarf planet

Equivalents

Examples

“The group of small bodies that circle round the Sun, outside the orbit of Mars, are known under the designation of the planetoids.”
“Numbering of the Planetoids or Asteroidal Planets.—In numbering the planetoids a difficulty has arisen [...]”
“if one can argue for the early existence of a few largely molten planetoids with dimension of kilometers or tens of kilometers, one can quite as easily argue for very large numbers of such planetoids.”
“After discovering "planetoids", bodies orbiting the Sun, even larger than Pluto's moon Charon ... the question of how Sedna and other planetoids came to be.”
“Eris [...] was the upstart planetoid that knocked Pluto off the planetary lists”
“Plate tectonics is a style of convection for an active planetoid where lid fragment (plate) motions reflect sinking of dense lithosphere in subduction zones […] In 2015 humanity completed a 50+ year effort to survey the 30 largest planets, asteroids, satellites, and inner Kuiper Belt objects, which we informally call “planetoids”.”
“We prefer the word "planetoid" as a new word to describe round objects orbiting the sun.”
“A dwarf planet or a planetoid is a celestial body that [...]”
“'Dwarf planet' is a dumb phrase. For years we've called things like Pluto and Xena 'planetoids'—planetlike.”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.
See all B2 English words →

See also

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