lunar

adjective

lu·​nar ˈlü-nər 

 also  -ˌnär

1

: crescent, lunate

who grasps the struggling heifer's lunar horns

—Alexander Pope

2

a

: of, relating to, or resembling the moon

lunar craters

a lunar landscape

b

: designed for use on the moon

lunar vehicles

3

: measured by the moon's revolution

lunar month

Examples of lunar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander arrived on the moon on March 2 to deliver a suite of science and technology instruments, according to NASA. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 20 Mar. 2025

Though the lunar lander is not expected to survive the two-week, bitterly cold lunar night, the AP reported, the team will try to reactivate the spacecraft in early April. —Colson Thayer, People.com, 19 Mar. 2025

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander made the most of its last few hours of life on the moon. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 18 Mar. 2025

Both Intuitive Machines and Firefly flew their lunar landers under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program, which aims to spur the business sector to pursue lunar exploration. —Jackie Wattles, CNN, 17 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English lunare, borrowed from Latin lūnāris "of the moon, crescent-shaped," from lūna "moon" + -āris -ar; lūna going back to Indo-European *lou̯k-s-neh₂, derivative of the verb stem *leu̯k- "become bright," whence also Old Church Slavic luna "moon," Russian luná, Old Prussian lauxnos "stars," Armenian lusin "moon"; from a stem *lou̯k-s-no- Old Irish lúan in día lúain "Monday," Avestan raoxšna- "light," (with presumed zero-grade) Greek lýkhnos "lamp" — more at light entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing lunar

• lunar caustic
• lunar eclipse
• lunar module
• lunar month

Rhymes for lunar

• schooner
• sooner
• spooner
• tuner
• lacunar
• semilunar

Kids Definition

lunar

adjective

lu·​nar ˈlü-nər 

1

: of, relating to, or resembling the moon

lunar craters

a lunar landscape

2

: measured by the moon's revolution

lunar month

Medical Definition

lunar

adjective

lu·​nar

ˈlü-nər also -ˌnär

: lunate