: any of various chiefly fall-blooming leafy-stemmed composite herbs (Aster and closely related genera) with often showy heads containing disk flowers or both disk and ray flowers
The over 100 native aster species in North America come in a kaleidoscope of colors and can tolerate a variety of conditions.—Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Aug. 2024 Early summer bloomers have fizzled out and autumn charmers like asters and mums have yet to pop.—Dawn Pettinelli, Hartford Courant, 10 Aug. 2024 Favored blooms are those in the mint and aster families, like Joe-Pye weeds and Thoroughworts (Eutrochium and Eupatorium), goldenrods (Solidago and Euthamia), wingstem (Verbesina), and in the photo, culinary mint.—Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 25 July 2024 Other than coleus, the Victorians enjoyed using colorful flowers such as petunias, asters, and zinnias as carpet bedding.—Abigayle Ward, Hartford Courant, 20 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for aster
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Word History
Etymology
Noun
(sense 1) borrowed from New Latin, genus name, going back to Latin aster-, astēr "a plant, probably Aster amellus," borrowed from Greek aster-, astḗr "star, the plant Aster amellus"; (sense 2) borrowed from Greek aster-, astḗr "star" — more at star entry 1
Noun suffix
Middle English, from Latin, suffix denoting partial resemblance
: a system of microtubules arranged in rays around a centriole at either end of the mitotic or meiotic spindle
The first stage in the formation of the mitotic spindle in a typical animal cell is the appearance of microtubules in a "sunburst" arrangement, or aster, around each centrosome during early prophase.—Gerald Karp, Cell and Molecular Biology: Concepts and Experiments, 6th edition
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