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Stella, the Latin word for "star," shines brightly in the word constellation, but stella words have been favored by scientists to describe earthly things as much as heavenly bodies. Stellar was once used to mean "star-shaped." That use is no longer current, but today biologists and geologists might use one of these synonyms: stellular, stellate, and stelliform. Poets, too, have looked to stella. John Milton used stellar in its infancy when he wrote in Paradise Lost "these soft fires … shed down their stellar virtue." Stellar shot into its leading role as a synonym of star (as when we say "stellar pupil") in the late 1800s.
Examples of stellar in a Sentence
Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 11 May 2025
The locals sure aren't, with an increasing number of surfers finally catching on to the islands' stellar swells.
—Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 11 May 2025
Of course, Blue Ivy has been blowing fans away with her fierce performances and stellar moves throughout the show.
—Caché McClay, USA Today, 11 May 2025
Above Antares near the top of the frame is the famous Messier 4 globular cluster, which is estimated to be home to some 100,000 stellar bodies, according to NASA.
—Anthony Wood, Space.com, 10 May 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Stellar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stellar. Accessed 14 May. 2025.
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stellar
adjective
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