Inner Planet Definition & Meaning

American

British

Scientific

Etymology

Examples

Synonyms inner planet American [in-er plan-it] / ˈɪn ər ˈplæn ɪt /

noun

Astronomy.

1. any of the planets in our solar system whose orbits lie between the sun and the asteroid belt, namely, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, all of which are terrestrial planets.

inner planet British

noun

1. any of the planets Mercury, Venus, earth, and Mars, whose orbits lie inside the asteroid belt

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 inner planet Scientific

1. Any of the four planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, whose orbits lie nearest the Sun. The inner planets are of similar size and have high densities compared to the larger gas giants among the outer planets. They are composed mostly of rock and metal and are relatively slow to rotate, with solid surfaces, no rings, and few moons.

2. Also called terrestrial planet

3. Compare outer planet See also inferior planet

Etymology

Origin of inner planet

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They first refined measurements of a previously known inner planet, GJ 251 b, which completes an orbit every 14 days.

From Science Daily

The orbits of the three known planets showed a 3/2 resonance between each neighboring pair: For every three times the inner planet orbits, the outer neighbor orbits twice.

From Science Magazine

The exoplanets are huge: the inner planet is 14 times as massive as Jupiter and the outer one is 6 times as massive.

From Nature

But get around these and the view, at least, might be pleasing to the eye: wispy clouds, a giant red sun, and an inner planet that rises like Venus.

From The Guardian

How a small inner planet stays on that path as a bigger planet lurches on an elliptical orbit around the same star is a mystery.

From Scientific American

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.