Phrase guide

variable star

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any star whose brightness varies.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a star that varies noticeably in brightness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: variable

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: star

Narrower terms: Polaris, North Star, pole star, polar star, polestar

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: dəyişən ulduz — star whose brightness varies
  • Bengali: বিষমতারা (biśomtara) — star whose brightness varies
  • Bulgarian: променлива звезда (promenliva zvezda) — star whose brightness varies
  • Chinese Mandarin: 變星 /变星 (biànxīng) — star whose brightness varies
  • Dutch: variabele ster — star whose brightness varies
  • Dutch: veranderlijke ster — star whose brightness varies
  • Finnish: muuttuva tähti — star whose brightness varies
  • Finnish: muuttuja — star whose brightness varies
  • French: étoile variable — star whose brightness varies
  • Greek: μεταβλητός αστέρας (metavlitós astéras) — star whose brightness varies
  • Irish: réalta athraitheach — star whose brightness varies
  • Japanese: 変光星 (henkōsei) — star whose brightness varies
  • Kazakh: айнымалы жұлдыз (ainymaly jūldyz) — star whose brightness varies
  • Korean: 변광성 (byeon'gwangseong) — star whose brightness varies
  • Kyrgyz: өзгөрмө жылдыз (özgörmö jıldız) — star whose brightness varies
  • Malayalam: ചരനക്ഷത്രം (caranakṣatraṁ) — star whose brightness varies
  • Persian: ستاره متغیر — star whose brightness varies
  • Polish: gwiazda zmienna — star whose brightness varies
  • Portuguese: estrela variável — star whose brightness varies
  • Scots: variable starn — star whose brightness varies
  • Serbo-Croatian: променљива звезда (promenljiva zvezda) — star whose brightness varies
  • Swedish: variabel stjärna — star whose brightness varies
  • Tagalog: aligang tala — star whose brightness varies
  • Turkish: değişen yıldız — star whose brightness varies
  • Uzbek: oʻzgaruvchan yulduz — star whose brightness varies
  • Vietnamese: sao biến quang — star whose brightness varies