quasar means an extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and (putatively) the most distant objects in the universe. It carries an Arena rating of 1719, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, quasar ranks #87 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #836 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,074 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,783 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
quasar is pronounced /ˈkweɪ.zɑː/.
Why “quasar” is a great word
An extremely luminous extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most distant known objects in the universe. Blend of quasi- ('resembling') and stellar ('star'), from the phrase 'quasi-stellar radio source'; coined in 1964 by American astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu. Unlike a pulsar, a galactic lighthouse whose regular heartbeat marks a dense, spinning remnant, or a supernova, the spectacular but terminal flare of a dying sun, a quasar is a persistent, violent aperture—a beacon from the universe's raw youth, a pinprick of light outshining entire galaxies, a cosmic forge fueled by the insatiable gravity of a supermassive black hole. It is light from so far away that to see it is to look almost all the way back to the beginning, a message written in radiation and time.
Etymology
Blend of quasi- + stellar, from quasi-stellar radio source. Coined by American astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu in 1964 in an article in Physics Today. By surface analysis, quasi- + -ar.
noun
- An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and (putatively) the most distant objects in the universe.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- qsg 67% match — Quasi-Stellar Galaxy, a quasar vs quasar →
- quasistar 66% match — A theoretical early universe object, with the outer layers of a star and a black hole for a stellar core. Theorized to be born of an ultramassive pre-stellar nebula collapse to an ultramassive protostar, and later birthing an intermediate mass black hole when the star's life ends. vs quasar →
- blazar 65% match — A very compact quasar, associated with a supermassive black hole at the center of an active galaxy. vs quasar →
- quasistellar 65% match — Similar to a star. vs quasar →
- qso 61% match — A radio-quiet quasar. vs quasar →
- bso 60% match — Blue stellar object: a radio-quiet quasar. vs quasar →
- microquasar 59% match — A high-energy binary star system that includes black hole or neutron star and which resembles a quasar. vs quasar →
- spinar 55% match — A rapidly-rotating supermassive star, once hypothesized as the identity of quasars vs quasar →