plural novas or novae
ˈnō-(ˌ)vē 
-ˌvī
: a star that suddenly increases its light output tremendously and then fades away to its former obscurity in a few months or years
often capitalized
: cured and smoked salmon
especially
: salmon that has been cured in a mixture of salt and sugar and smoked at a low temperature
Examples of nova in a Sentence
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John Timmer, Ars Technica, 27 Sep. 2024
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Noun
To get a separate measure of how unusual this is, the researchers placed 8 million novas around the center of the galaxy, with the distribution being random but biased to match the galaxy's brightness under the assumption that novas will be more frequent in areas with more stars.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 27 Sep. 2024
Dictionary Entries Near nova
Cite this Entry
“Nova.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nova. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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