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moon

moon

581 1.0
A large object that moves around Earth and appears in the night sky
  • noun
  • /muːn/
translation icon : luna
  • Why the moon changes shape.
  • full moon
  • moon phase
  • new moon

How do pieces of the moon end up on Earth?

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Examples

  • I was just trying to catch the rising moon.

  • The last time we flew to the moon, I looked like this.

  • How do pieces of the moon end up on Earth?

  • But after three days on the moon, it was time to leave.

  • What if we're going to make the moon twice as heavy?

  • Put them on the surface of the moon, they will survive.

    Academic text (2012)
  • We haven't even been back to the moon since the '60s.

  • 250,000 miles away, where the moon is waiting for man's first arrival.

  • They laughed at Louis Armstrong when he said he was gonna go to the moon.

  • The astronauts successfully landed on the moon and conducted experiments on its surface.

Synonyms

satellite
vsmoon
  • Specialized
145 3.9

A natural body that moves around a planet or star, like the Moon

is the natural object that orbits a planet rather than any orbiting body

Idioms

over the moon
  • Informal
13 4.9

Feeling very happy and excited because something good happened

6 5.0

Happens very rarely

4 8.2

To make a long loud cry like a wolf to show strong feeling

1 7.6

To demand something that is impossible or too much

to hung the moon
  • Informal
1 9.6

To think someone is perfect and cannot do wrong

1 6.8

Tell someone you will do something very big although you cannot do it

1 6.3

Feel very strong love for someone

To want something that is impossible or not realistic

Admire someone so much that you think they are perfect

An impossible thing that someone asks for

Compounds

116 1.2

A time when the Moon's whole face looks bright from Earth

9 2.8

A thin crescent of the Moon that first appears after a dark period

blue moon
  • Informal
7 6.1

An event that happens very rarely

6 4.7

A full moon that comes soon after the start of autumn and gives extra light for farmers

man in the moon
  • Literature
3 6.7

A shape people imagine on the moon's surface that looks like a face

A stage in the Moon's cycle that shows how much of it is lit

2 5.4

The moon looks red during a total eclipse when it passes into Earth's shadow because Earth's air filters sunlight

The half of the Moon that we never see from Earth

1 2.6

A time when half of the Moon appears lit by the Sun

1 9.1

A tree grown from seeds taken to the Moon on a space mission

blue moon event
  • Informal
6.6

A very rare event that almost never happens

full moon maple
  • Specialized
8.1

A small tree grown for its pretty, deeply cut leaves that turn bright red in autumn

A time when the Moon looks completely lit in the night sky

The time when the Moon looks fully round and very bright

3.9

A pale beam of light from the moon that shines at night

moon shell
  • Specialized
8.2

A smooth rounded sea snail shell with a small top often found on sandy beaches

moon shot
  • Specialized
5.1

A rocket launch that sends a spacecraft to the moon

7.9

A very ambitious project that is unlikely to succeed

9.9

A small evergreen bush with soft hairy leaves, yellow summer flowers, and snail-shaped seed pods

moon blindness
  • Specialized
9.8

Repeated inflammation in a horse's eye that can cause blindness

moon blindness
  • Archaic
9.8

Poor sight at night in people and animals often caused by lack of vitamin A

9.9

A plant with tall stems, thin leaves, and clusters of small white or pink flowers

9.9

A person who secretly brings goods into or out of a country to avoid paying taxes

6.2

A tall plant with white daisy-like flowers that grows in fields

9.9

A person who brings goods into or out of a country secretly to avoid paying taxes

8.6

A thin beam of light from the moon

moon-splashed
  • Literature
7.5

A place or object that has small areas lit by moonlight

An act of praying to the moon as if it were a god

9.9

A curved part of a fort wall shaped like a half moon for defenders to fire on attackers

4.2

A pale curved area at the base of a fingernail

A time when the Moon looks like a thin crescent at the start of a new moon cycle

How Big

Ganymede
9 8.4
moon
581 1.0
moonlet
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Surface Forms

moon singular
moons plural

Etymology

Moon comes from old English mōna, the name for the round light in the sky, and people once used the moon to 'measure' time — that is why the word is linked to month.