What does "quasar" mean?

An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and (putatively) the most distant objects in the universe.

Quasar

Q: What is a synonym for "quasar"?

Common synonyms include: quasi-stellar radio source, absolute magnitude, beehive, binary star, black hole, blue stellar object.

//ˈkweɪ.zɑɹ// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and (putatively) the most distant objects in the universe.
2
a starlike object that may send out radio waves and other forms of energy; many have large red shifts wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

quasi-stellar radio source absolute magnitude beehive binary star black hole blue stellar object

Example

More examples

"In recent years, with a method called VLBI that uses quasar observations, and by GPS we have begun to understand the absolute movement of tectonic plates."

Etymology

Blend of quasi- + stellar, from quasi-stellar radio source. Coined by American astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu in 1964 in an article in Physics Today. By surface analysis, quasi- + -ar.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.