Meaning

• Each of the seven major bodies which move relative to the fixed stars in the night sky—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

• A body which orbits the Sun directly and is massive enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (effectively meaning a spheroid) and to dominate its orbit; specifically, the eight major bodies of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. (Pluto was considered a planet until 2006 and has now been reclassified as a dwarf planet.)

• A large body which directly orbits any star (or star cluster) but which has not attained nuclear fusion.

• In phrases such as the planet, this planet, sometimes refers to the Earth.