asterism

1. 1.

   (mineralogy) a star-shaped figure with six rays that is seen in some crystal structures under reflected or transmitted light

   Broaderstar

   mineralogy

2. 2.

   (astronomy) a cluster of stars (or a small constellation)

   Broadernatural object

   NarrowerBig DipperLittle Dipper

   Part ofconstellation

   astronomy

Other forms of asterism

plural

asterisms·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about asterism

What does asterism mean?

asterism means "(mineralogy) a star-shaped figure with six rays that is seen in some crystal structures under reflected or transmitted light". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in asterism?

asterism has 3 syllables: a-ste-rism. The stress falls on "a".

Is asterism a common word?

asterism is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.