Meteor vs. Meteorite — What's the Difference?

A bright streak of light that appears in the sky when a meteoroid is heated to incandescence by friction with the earth's atmosphere. Also called falling star, meteor burst, shooting star.

A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy.

A meteoroid or meteorite.

A stony or metallic mass of matter that has fallen to the earth's surface from outer space.

(Archaic) Any atmospheric phenomenon, such as a rainbow, lightning, or snow.

A metallic or stony object or body that is the remains of a meteoroid.

An atmospheric or meteorological phenomenon. These were sometimes classified as aerial or airy meteors (winds), aqueous or watery meteors (hydrometeors: clouds, rain, snow, hail, dew, frost), luminous meteors (rainbows and aurora), and igneous or fiery meteors (lightning and shooting stars).

A mass of stone or iron which has fallen to the earth from space; an aërolite.

A fast-moving streak of light in the night sky caused by the entry of extraterrestrial matter into the earth's atmosphere; a shooting star or falling star.

Stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface

(juggling) A prop similar to poi balls, in that it is twirled at the end of a cord or cable.

(martial arts) A striking weapon resembling a track and field hammer consisting of a weight swung at the end of a cable or chain.

(figurative) Any short-lived source of wonderment.

(intransitive) To move at great speed.

Any phenomenon or appearance in the atmosphere, as clouds, rain, hail, snow, etc.

Specif.: A transient luminous body or appearance seen in the atmosphere, or in a more elevated region.

A mass of stone or other substance which sometimes falls to the earth from space beyond the moon, burning up from atomospheric friction and creating a brilliant but usually very brief trail of light in the atmosphere; also called a shooting star.

A streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode

(astronomy) any of the small solid extraterrestrial bodies that hits the earth's atmosphere