galactic

Everyday

1. To do with a galaxy, a huge group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity, such as our Milky Way. tree →
2. (informal) Enormous, huge in size or importance: a galactic mess. tree →

In the lessons

In science and space lessons «galactic» is used for things across or inside a galaxy: the galactic centre, a galactic year. In science fiction stories it appears in names like «Galactic Empire» or «galactic war». As slang it exaggerates size. Phrases: the galactic centre, intergalactic travel, galactic scale.

Examples

• The Sun goes around the galactic centre once every 230 million years or so. tree →
• Our science topic is about galactic shapes, like spirals. tree →
• In the film, a galactic war breaks out between two planets. tree →
• There is a black hole at the galactic centre. tree →
• My bedroom was a galactic mess after the sleepover. tree →
• Intergalactic space is the gap between galaxies. tree →
• The game lets you build a galactic empire. tree →

Note

From «galaxy» (y changes to «-actic»). «Intergalactic» = between galaxies; «galactic» = within or about a galaxy. The Milky Way is our galaxy; it is not the same as the Solar System, which is tiny by comparison.