Supermoon
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A full moon or new moon, when the Earth–Moon distance is in the lowest tenth of its range.
"And should the moon happen to hit its ever-shifting orbital perigee at the same time that it lies athwart from the sun, we are treated to a so-called supermoon, a full moon that can seem close enough to embrace – as much as 12 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon. […] Some astronomers dislike the whole supermoon hoopla. They point out that the term originated with astrology, not astronomy; that perigee full moons are not all that rare, coming an average of every 13 months; and that their apparently swollen dimensions are often as much a matter of optical illusion and wishful blinking as of relative lunar nearness."
- 2 Alternative form of supermoon. alt-of, alternative
- 3 Alternative form of supermoon. alt-of, alternative
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"When the moon gets closest to the Earth in its orbit, it appears bigger and brighter than usual and is called a supermoon."
Etymology
From super- + moon. Coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.
Related phrases
More for "supermoon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.