Nova
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.
- 2 plural of novum form-of, plural
- 3 Smoked Nova Scotia salmon. uncountable
- 4 Initialism of notification of vehicle arrival. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 5 a star that ejects some of its material in the form of a cloud and becomes more luminous in the process wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Ellipsis of classical nova abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 7 Acronym of neuro-oncological ventral antigen. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 1 A female given name from Latin.
"Did you notice the dog which in the winter sports scenes is clasped in the arms of the child-star, Nova Pilbeam?"
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of NoVA. alt-of
- 3 Acronym of Northern Virginia. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 4 Alternative letter-case form of NoVA (“North Virginia”). alt-of
Example
More examples"The researchers said that the sun was quite stable, and was not expected to go nova anytime soon."
Etymology
Feminine nominative singular of Latin novus (“new”). The feminine is used since stella (“star”) is feminine; thus nova is a shortening of nova stella (“new star”), first used in this sense in 1573 by Tycho Brahe.
Blend of novum + Latin -a. From the Latin -a suffix used as the plural suffix form for singular words ending with -um (an inflection of -us).
From Latin nova (“new”).
Clipping of Nova Scotia.
Abbreviation of Northern Virginia.
Blend of northern + VA (“Virginia”).
Related phrases
More for "nova"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.