Library / English Dictionary

PLUTO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large asteroid that was once thought to be the farthest known planet from the sun; it has an elliptical orbit

Example:

Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Instance hypernyms:

asteroid (any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter))

Holonyms ("Pluto" is a member of...):

solar system (the sun with the celestial bodies that revolve around it in its gravitational field)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Roman mythology) god of the underworld; counterpart of Greek Hades

Synonyms:

Dis; Dis Pater; Orcus; Pluto

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

Roman deity (a deity worshipped by the ancient Romans)

Domain category:

Roman mythology (the mythology of the ancient Romans)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A cartoon character created by Walt Disney

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

character; fictional character; fictitious character (an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story))

Credits

 Context examples: 

On Pluto they appear to be larger — but still relatively small — soot-like particles we call tholins.

(New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto, NASA)

The mountains are probably composed of Pluto’s water-ice “bedrock.”

(The Icy Mountains of Pluto, NASA)

In partnership with an international team, a group of Brazilian astronomers discovered the existence of a ring around a dwarf planet near Pluto, similar to those of the giant Saturn.

(Brazil astronomers discover ring around dwarf planet near Pluto, Agência Brasil)

Far in the western hemisphere, scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission have discovered what looks like a giant “bite mark” on Pluto’s surface.

(What’s Eating at Pluto?, NASA)

Saturn and Pluto will oppose this full moon eclipse, so it appears you will be willing to accept more responsibility at home.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

At half the diameter of Pluto, Charon is the largest satellite relative to its planet in the solar system.

(Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History, NASA)

The New Horizons Atmospheres team observed Pluto’s atmosphere as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) above the surface, demonstrating that Pluto’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere is quite extended.

(New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’, NASA)

Within Pluto’s informally named Vega Terra region is a field of eye-catching craters that looks like a cluster of bright halos scattered across a dark landscape.

(Pluto’s ‘Halo’ Craters, NASA)

The first color images of Pluto’s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue.

(New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto, NASA)

Unlike the icy moons of giant planets, Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body.

(The Icy Mountains of Pluto, NASA)