asteroid
part of speech
noun (an asteroid, asteroids)
meaning for a pupil
1) An asteroid is a rocky or metal object in space, smaller than a planet, that goes around the Sun. tree →
2) Asteroids range from the size of a pebble or boulder to hundreds of kilometres across. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science (space) most asteroids are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists think a huge asteroid that hit the Earth helped to wipe out the dinosaurs. A small piece that falls through the air and glows is a meteor; one that lands is a meteorite. Space agencies watch for asteroids that come near Earth.
examples
- Most asteroids orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. tree →
- A giant asteroid may have caused the dinosaurs to die out. tree →
- Some asteroids are as big as a city. tree →
- Scientists track asteroids that come close to Earth. tree →
- A spacecraft landed on an asteroid and collected dust. tree →
- Asteroids are smaller than planets and moons. tree →
note
Countable. Asteroid, comet, meteor: an asteroid is rocky; a comet is icy and grows a tail near the Sun; a meteor is the streak of light («shooting star») when a small piece burns up in the air. A meteorite is a piece that reaches the ground.
In the corpora
- Crocodiles survived the asteroid too, and they are closer relatives of birds than of lizards.
- Scientists track big asteroids, and none of the known large ones will hit Earth in the next hundred years.
- In 2022 the DART spacecraft bumped into an asteroid and changed its path, a test of how to protect Earth.
- About 66 million years ago an asteroid about 10 km wide hit Mexico and ended the age of non-bird dinosaurs.
- The Moon is covered in craters, some hundreds of kilometres wide, made by asteroids and comets hitting it.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «asteroid» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.