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# meteorite

noun (a meteorite, meteorites)

«meteorite» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal from space that has fallen through the air and landed on the Earth's surface. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#m1)

### In the lessons

In science lessons about space, three words are taught together: a meteoroid is a small rock travelling in space; a meteor is the streak of light («shooting star») when it burns in our air; a meteorite is the piece that reaches the ground. Many meteorites are older than the Earth itself. A giant one hit the Earth about 66 million years ago and helped wipe out the dinosaurs. Meteorites are often heavy because they contain iron. Phrases: «meteorite impact», «meteorite crater», «iron meteorite».

### Examples

- The museum has a meteorite you can touch. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x1)
- A meteorite made this huge crater in Arizona. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x2)
- Most meteorites land in the sea, because most of Earth is water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x3)
- Scientists found meteorites on the ice in Antarctica. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x4)
- The meteorite was heavy because it was made mostly of iron. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x5)
- A meteor that reaches the ground becomes a meteorite. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x6)
- Some meteorites came from Mars or the Moon. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/#x7)

### Note

Plural «meteorites». Trap: meteor (the flash in the sky) vs meteorite (the rock on the ground) vs meteoroid (rock in space); the «-ite» ending is like «rock». Myth: most meteorites are cool or just warm when they land, not red hot.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «meteorite» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meteorite/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«meteorite» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/meteorite.html) on Mova free.