polaris

1. 1.

   the brightest star in Ursa Minor; at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper; the northern axis of the earth points toward it

   SynonymsNorth Starpole starpolar starpolestar

   Broadervariable starlodestar

   Part ofLittle BearLittle Dipper

Other forms of polaris

plural

polarises·

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 polaris

What does polaris mean?

polaris means "the brightest star in Ursa Minor; at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper; the northern axis of the earth points toward it".

How many syllables are in polaris?

polaris has 3 syllables: po-lar-is. The stress falls on "lar". In IPA it is /poʊˈlɛɹəs/.

What is another word for polaris?

Close synonyms include North Star, pole star, polar star, polestar. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is polaris a common word?

polaris is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.