Astronomical Terms

noun a long piece of wood, metal, or other material, typically horizontal, supporting structure of a roof, bridge, or ceiling

verb to emit or transmit (a signal or ray of light) in a specified direction

• The beam of light illuminated the entire room.
• I saw a beam of light coming from the window.
• I can't believe she beamed when she saw him.
• Her smile beamed as she accepted the award.

adjective showing great joy, happiness, or satisfaction

• She entered the room beaming with joy, ready to present her research findings.
• When I saw her beaming smile, I knew she had aced the exam.
• He was beaming like a kid in a candy store when he got his new skateboard.
• The sunrise painted the sky in hues of pink and orange, beaming its warmth across the horizon.

noun the tough outer part of a loaf of bread or of a pie

verb not applicable

adjective not applicable

adverb not applicable

pronoun not applicable

preposition not applicable

conjunction not applicable

interjection not applicable

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• The baker carefully crafted the flaky crust for the apple pie.
• I love when the pizza crust is nice and crispy.
• Let's grab a slice of pizza with extra cheese and stuffed crust.
• Beneath his tough exterior, he had a kind heart - like a hard crust hiding a soft center.

noun a grammatical structure that is elliptical

adjective relating to or having the form of an ellipse

• The mathematician explained the concept of elliptic curves in great detail.
• I still don't quite understand what those elliptic shapes are all about.
• Elliptic curves are like the cool kids of the math world.
• Her thoughts followed an elliptic path, never quite reaching a clear conclusion.

noun a sudden and unexpected event or situation

adverb unexpectedly or suddenly

• The CEO's resignation announcement came out of the blue, surprising everyone in the company.
• I haven't seen Sarah in years, but she called me out of the blue yesterday.
• I was just chilling at home when my friend showed up out of the blue.
• The idea for the new product design came to me out of the blue while I was taking a walk.

noun a vast expanse that begins where the earth's atmosphere ends

adjective relating to or existing in the outer regions of the atmosphere or beyond

• Scientists study the vast expanse of outer space to better understand the universe.
• Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel through outer space?
• Outer space is like the ultimate road trip destination, dude.
• Her mind often drifts off into outer space during boring meetings.

adjective having indentations or marks on the surface, usually referring to a skin condition or a surface with small holes or dents

• The surface of the moon is pocked with craters.
• His face was pocked with acne scars.
• The old abandoned building was pocked with graffiti.
• Her heart was pocked with emotional scars from past relationships.

adjective describing the shape of something as resembling a saucer

• The scientist discovered a saucer shaped object in the sky.
• I saw a saucer shaped UFO last night!
• Check out that saucer shaped thing over there!
• Her hat was saucer shaped, perched perfectly on her head.

noun the angle formed between two lines or rays that extend from the ends of an arc or chord

verb to extend or stretch underneath or across something

• The angle subtended by the two lines is equal to 90 degrees.
• The lines make an angle of 90 degrees.
• Those lines form a 90-degree angle.
• Their friendship subtends all obstacles.

noun a trigonometry, a branch of mathematics dealing with the relations of the sides and angles of triangles and with the relevant functions of any angles

adjective neat and trim in form or appearance

• The trigonometry problem required students to solve for the missing angle.
• I struggled with the trig question on the math test.
• I aced that trig problem like a boss.
• She had a trig approach to solving complex issues, breaking them down into smaller parts.

noun A period of 365 days or 12 months

adjective relating to or characteristic of a particular year

• The company's revenue increased by 10% this year.
• I can't believe it's already been a year since we last saw each other.
• I've been working at this job for a whole year now.
• Time flies when you're having fun - it feels like just yesterday we were celebrating the new year.

noun a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally

adjective pertaining to or made of gold

• The country code for Australia is AU.
• Let's plan a trip to AU next summer.
• AU is such a cool place to visit.
• The company's stocks are trending upwards like the AU symbol.

verb to gradually accumulate or increase by a natural process

• The sediment gradually accretes at the bottom of the river, forming new land.
• Over time, the dust will accrete on the shelves if we don't clean them regularly.
• I heard she's been accreting a lot of followers on social media lately.
• His wealth continued to accrete over the years through smart investments.

noun a mathematical method or process of finding the area of a figure by multiplying its dimensions

• The mathematician explained the concept of quadrature in great detail during the lecture.
• I still don't understand what quadrature means, can you explain it to me in simpler terms?
• Quadrature is like when you have to figure out the area of a weird shape in math class.
• The artist used quadrature to create a sense of depth and dimension in the painting.

noun a leap year

adjective relating to a leap year, especially one with 366 days

• The year 2020 was a bissextile year, also known as a leap year.
• Hey, did you know 2020 is a bissextile year? That means we get an extra day in February!
• 2026 is gonna be a bissextile year, so we get an extra day to party!
• Just like a bissextile year, sometimes we need an extra day to catch up on things in life.

noun a Latin phrase meaning 'from outside'

adverb in a way that is external or from an external source

• The decision was made ab extra, without consulting the committee.
• They just decided ab extra, without asking anyone else.
• They went ahead and did it ab extra, not caring about anyone else's opinion.
• The artist's inspiration seemed to come ab extra, as if from another world.