Dictionary

starburst en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From star + burst.

Meanings

1. A violent explosion, or the pattern (likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion.
   • […] and another that creates a cicatrix starburst from her right eye to her temple. This scar is the result of an accident when she was ten years old, […] 2004, Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life:
   • […] his arm striking brick and the bottle shattering in a starburst of black […] 2002, Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror:
   • A starburst of red exploded on his chest and he flew backward a good six or seven feet. 2003, Tim Cockey, Murder in the Hearse Degree: A Novel:
2. A symbol similar to an asterisk, but with additional rays: ✺.
3. A region of space with an unusually high rate of star formation.
4. A period in time during which a region of space experiences an unusually high rate of star formation.
   • The Milky Way will see a starburst in approximately 200,000,000 years.

Forms

Deriveds

Mombasa golden starburst tarantula · poststarburst · starburst display · starburst galaxy

Translations (1)

fr flambée d'étoiles (Translations)

starburst en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From star + burst.

Meanings

1. (of a region of space) To experience an unusually high rate of star formation.
2. To explode; to burst out violently via, or in such a manner as to cause, an explosion.
3. To make a starburst pattern.
   • The faint light from the sky starbursted on a tear. Suddenly there was something appallingly human about her. 1998, Graham Joyce, The Tooth Fairy:

Forms