ENGLISH
REFERENCE

astronaut

n. countable
A2 Elementary US //ˈæstɹəˌnɑt// UK //ˈæstɹənˌɔːt// as·tro·naut

n. a person who is trained to travel and work in a spacecraft. They often live on a space station to do scientific experiments.

n. a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.


SIMPLE

The astronaut floats inside the space station.

CONTEXTUAL

After years of intense physical and mental training, she finally became an astronaut for the national space agency.

COMPLEX

Modern astronauts must possess not only technical engineering skills but also the psychological resilience required for long-duration missions in the confined environment of a lunar base.

Synonyms
Origin

From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”).

Usage

Typically refers to travelers from Western space programs; 'cosmonaut' is the specific term for those from the Russian program.

© 2026 English Reference