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Stella, the Latin word for "star," shines brightly in the word constellation, but stella words have been favored by scientists to describe earthly things as much as heavenly bodies. Stellar was once used to mean "star-shaped." That use is no longer current, but today biologists and geologists might use one of these synonyms: stellular, stellate, and stelliform. Poets, too, have looked to stella. John Milton used stellar in its infancy when he wrote in Paradise Lost "these soft fires … shed down their stellar virtue." Stellar shot into its leading role as a synonym of star (as when we say "stellar pupil") in the late 1800s.
Examples of stellar in a Sentence
Ben Church, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025
Learn how to showcase your skills, build a stellar reputation, and create a digital presence that AI can’t replicate.
—Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC, 19 Dec. 2025
Even = Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine As one Safdie brother’s film arrives in theaters to stellar reviews, the other’s has largely faded from the scene.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Glover did take time from more serious doings to appear in the stellar, surreal comedy Sorry to Bother You (2018), the affecting drama The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), and the Christmas caper The Naughty Nine (2023), playing Santa Claus in the latter.
—Diedre Johnson, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Stellar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stellar. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.
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stellar
adjective
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