1
or less commonly Centaur
: any of a race of creatures fabled to be half human and half horse and to live in the mountains of Thessaly
2
Centaur astronomy
: any of a class of asteroids with elliptical orbits that typically lie between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune
The Centaurs are distinguished dynamically as a group of objects whose orbits cross those of the Jovian planets and whose perihelions lie outside the orbit of Jupiter.—
Robert H. Brown et al.
Robert H. Brown et al.Examples of centaur in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Ornate carving on the covers — a centaur on Friedrich’s and a siren for Anna’s — evoked ideas of virility, fertility and desire.
—Jacqui Palumbo, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The celestial centaur contains a whopping 15 Messier objects, mostly star clusters and a few brilliant nebulas.
—Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
Per his Instagram profile, the stand-up comic is currently bringing laughs on his Still Detroit comedy tour.
04 of 10
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan made his name in Hollywood long before playing Percy’s teacher Mr. Brunner, who is quickly revealed to be an undercover centaur.
—Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2023
The same day, the centaur Chiron turns direct in Aries, ending its moonwalk that began on July 23.
—Lisa Stardust, refinery29.com, 21 Dec. 2023
Pelion is the mythical home of Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs, who lived in a cave in the mountains and educated Achilles, the great hero of the Trojan War, in the healing arts.
—Charlotte Higgins, Travel + Leisure, 9 Oct. 2023
This centaur managed to gallop along until last week, when OpenAI’s four-person board of directors, which has been widely seen as sensitive to the risks of A.I., fired its C.E.O., Sam Altman, who came to OpenAI after running the startup accelerator Y Combinator.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023
Such half-human, half-A.I. teams, known as centaurs, might still be able to beat the best humans and the best A.I. engines working alone.
—James Somers, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
Pelion is layered in classical myth: its namesake mountain was the land of the centaurs; and the city of Vólos, which stands at the peninsula’s head, was ancient Iolcos, from where Jason launched the Argo and his quest to claim the Golden Fleece.
—Charlotte Higgins, Travel + Leisure, 9 Oct. 2023
Jacqui Palumbo, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The celestial centaur contains a whopping 15 Messier objects, mostly star clusters and a few brilliant nebulas.
—Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2024
Per his Instagram profile, the stand-up comic is currently bringing laughs on his Still Detroit comedy tour.
04 of 10
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan made his name in Hollywood long before playing Percy’s teacher Mr. Brunner, who is quickly revealed to be an undercover centaur.
—Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2023
The same day, the centaur Chiron turns direct in Aries, ending its moonwalk that began on July 23.
—Lisa Stardust, refinery29.com, 21 Dec. 2023
Pelion is the mythical home of Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs, who lived in a cave in the mountains and educated Achilles, the great hero of the Trojan War, in the healing arts.
—Charlotte Higgins, Travel + Leisure, 9 Oct. 2023
This centaur managed to gallop along until last week, when OpenAI’s four-person board of directors, which has been widely seen as sensitive to the risks of A.I., fired its C.E.O., Sam Altman, who came to OpenAI after running the startup accelerator Y Combinator.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023
Such half-human, half-A.I. teams, known as centaurs, might still be able to beat the best humans and the best A.I. engines working alone.
—James Somers, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
Pelion is layered in classical myth: its namesake mountain was the land of the centaurs; and the city of Vólos, which stands at the peninsula’s head, was ancient Iolcos, from where Jason launched the Argo and his quest to claim the Golden Fleece.
—Charlotte Higgins, Travel + Leisure, 9 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'centaur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Centaur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/centaur. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
centaur
noun
cen·taur
ˈsen-ˌtȯ(ə)r 
: a creature in Greek mythology that is half human and half horse
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