planet

Meanings

Plural: planets

Noun

(astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in order of their proximity to the sun; viewed from the constellation Hercules, all the planets rotate around the sun in a counterclockwise direction
a person who follows or serves another
any celestial body (other than comets or satellites) that revolves around a star
Each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Any body that orbits the Sun, including the asteroids (as minor planets) and sometimes the moons of those bodies (as satellite planets)
A body which is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (generally resulting in being an ellipsoid) but not enough to attain nuclear fusion and, in IAU usage, which directly orbits a star (or multiple star) and dominates the region of its orbit; specifically, in the case of the Solar system, the eight major bodies of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
construed with the or this: The Earth.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English planete, from Old French planete, from Latin planeta, planetes, from Ancient Greek πλανήτης (planḗtēs, “wanderer”) (ellipsis of ἀστέρες πλανῆται (astéres planêtai, “wandering stars”)), from Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō, “wander about, stray”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Latin pālor (“wander about, stray”), Old Norse flana (“to rush about”), and Norwegian flanta (“to wander about”). More at flaunt. So called because they have apparent motion, unlike the "fixed" stars. Originally including also the moon and sun but not the Earth; modern scientific sense of "world that orbits a star" is from 1630s in English. The Greek word is an enlarged form of πλάνης (plánēs, “who wanders around, wanderer”), also "wandering star, planet", in medicine "unstable temperature."

Synonyms

major planet, planet, satellite, wandering star, wanderstar, world

Antonyms

dwarf planet

Scrabble Score: 8

planet is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
planet is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
planet is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

planet is a valid Words With Friends word