different between unusual vs starburst

English

Alternative forms

• unusuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From un- +? usual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?ju??u?l/, /?n?ju???l/

Adjective

unusual (comparative more unusual, superlative most unusual)

1. Not usual, out of the ordinary

   Synonyms: uncommon, rare, extraordinary, remarkable; see also Thesaurus:strange

   Antonyms: normal, usual, common, ordinary

Derived terms

• unusually
• unusualness

Translations

Noun

unusual (plural unusuals)

1. Something that is unusual; an anomaly.
   • 1905, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes

     I should say that it was very unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these unusuals strike you, Watson?

   • 1939, Pauline Redmond, Wilfrid Redmond, Business paper writing, a career (page 154)

     Two of these unusuals have been selected for special effort throughout the season. They are kneeling pads and water-proof garden gloves. During the bulb planting season they are displayed with the bulbs […]

References

• unusual at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

star +? burst

Noun

starburst (plural starbursts)

1. A violent explosion, or the pattern (likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion.
   • 2002: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

     ... his arm striking brick and the bottle shattering in a starburst of black ...

   • 2003: Tim Cockey, Murder in the Hearse Degree: A Novel

     A starburst of red exploded on his chest and he flew backward a good six or seven feet.

   • 2004: Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life

     ... and another that creates a cicatrix starburst from her right eye to her temple. This scar is the result of an accident when she was ten years old, ...

2. (typography) A symbol similar to an asterisk, but with additional rays: ?.
3. (astronomy) A region of space with an unusually high rate of star formation.
4. (astronomy) A period in time during which a region of space experiences an unusually high rate of star formation.

   The Milky Way will see a starburst in approximately 200,000,000 years.

Translations

See also

• starburst galaxy

Verb

starburst (third-person singular simple present starbursts, present participle starbursting, simple past and past participle starbursted)

1. (astronomy, of a region of space) To experience an unusually high rate of star formation.
2. To explode; to burst out violently via, or in such a manner as to cause, an explosion.
3. To make a starburst pattern.
4. To refract and sparkle.
   • 1998: Graham Joyce, The Tooth Fairy

     The faint light from the sky starbursted on a tear. Suddenly there was something appallingly human about her.