Brad YoungWilliam Prochnau
Did you know?
If someone asked you to associate the word asterisk with a heavenly body, you would probably have no problem relating it to a star - even if you didn't know that the word asterisk derives from "asteriskos," a Greek word meaning "little star." "Asterisk" has been a part of the constellation of English since at least the late 1300s, but it is far from the only shining star in our language. The Greek forms astēr, "astro," and "astrum" (all of which mean "star") still cast their light in English by way of such words as "asteroid," "astral," and "disaster" (which originally meant "an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star"). Even "star" itself is a distant relative of "asterisk."
Examples of asterisk in a Sentence
Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 6 Nov. 2024
Strategists of both parties aggressively argue that 2020 should be treated as an asterisk—a complete abnormality of a campaign season given the ongoing pandemic.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 30 Oct. 2024
Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com, 31 Oct. 2017
The movie made $60 million domestically (another $40 million internationally, asterisked by the fact that this was the era before international box-office dominated performance) on a budget of $66 million.
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 May 2017
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Cite this Entry
“Asterisk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asterisk. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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