cosmic ray

1. 1.

   highly penetrating ionizing radiation of extraterrestrial origin; consisting chiefly of protons and alpha particles; collision with atmospheric particles results in rays and particles of many kinds

   Broaderionizing radiation

   Part ofcosmic radiation

Questions about cosmic ray

What does cosmic ray mean?

cosmic ray means "highly penetrating ionizing radiation of extraterrestrial origin; consisting chiefly of protons and alpha particles; collision with atmospheric particles results in rays and particles of many kinds".

Is cosmic ray a common word?

cosmic ray 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.