orbit
noun
the curved path, usually elliptical, taken by a planet, satellite, spaceship, etc., around a celestial body, as the sun.
orbits
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pluralof orbit.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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present tense formof orbit (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
orbitnounthe curved path, usually elliptical, taken by a planet, satellite, spaceship, etc., around a celestial body, as the sun.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Starship is set to fly at an altitude of about 275 kilometers above Earth and complete six orbits around the planet.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, orbits at about 300 miles above Earth's surface.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted that a spinning black hole would drag spacetime along with it, twisting it in a way that changes the orbits of the surrounding stars.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Because it orbits only 4,850 miles, or 7,800 kilometers, from Mars, it appeared about one-third as wide as Earth's Moon appears from our planet when Perseverance took the images.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
He showed that comets, like planets, move in ellipses: “Comets are a sort of planets revolved in very eccentric orbits about the Sun.”
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
