Word of the Day

: February 7, 2008

nebula

noun NEB-yuh-luh

What It Means

1 : any of numerous clouds of gas or dust in interstellar space

2 : galaxy; especially : a galaxy other than the Milky Way

nebula in Context

The brilliant colors of the nebula were visible through the telescope.

Did You Know?

The history of today's word is not lost in the mists of time, although its history does get misty at points. "Nebula" comes to us from Latin, where it meant "mist" or "cloud." In its earliest English uses in the 1600s, "nebula" referred to a cloudy speck or film on the eye that caused vision problems. It was first applied to great interstellar clouds of gas and dust in the early 1700s. The adjective "nebulous" comes from the same Latin root as "nebula," but the first uses of "nebulous" don't appear in English until the late 1700s, well after the discovery of interstellar nebulae.