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spaceship

/ˈspeɪsˌʃɪp/
/ˈspeɪsʃɪp/
IPA guide

Other forms: spaceships

A vehicle that travels outside the earth's atmosphere is a spaceship. If you want to walk around on the moon some day, you'll have to get there in a spaceship.

Any craft that carries people or equipment through space is a spaceship, though you could also call it a "rocket ship." Traveling through the universe, far from Earth or just outside its atmosphere, definitely requires a spaceship. Spaceship was originally borrowed from 19th- and 20th-century science fiction, and even today the term is considered less scientific than spacecraft or space vehicle.

Definitions of spaceship
  1. noun
    a vehicle designed for travel far outside Earth's atmosphere, such as to visit another planet (especially in science fiction)
    synonyms: starship
    see moresee less
    type of:
    ballistic capsule, space vehicle, spacecraft
    a vehicle or device able to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere
Pronunciation
US
/ˈspeɪsˌʃɪp/
UK
/ˈspeɪsʃɪp/
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