Leonid

noun

Le·​o·​nid ˈlē-ə-nid How to pronounce Leonid (audio)
plural Leonids or Leonides lē-ˈä-nə-ˌdēz How to pronounce Leonid (audio)
: any of the meteors in a meteor shower occurring every year about November 14

Examples of Leonid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Sakharov made his name working as a physicist on the development of the U.S.S.R.’s hydrogen bomb, at the height of the Cold War, but shot to global prominence after Leonid Brezhnev’s regime punished him for speaking publicly about the dangers of those weapons, and also about Soviet repression. Julia Angwin, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2025 The property has hosted significant political figures such as Yasser Arafat, Leonid Brezhnev, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Dalai Lama. Paula Conway, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025 Arthur Franck’s film examines the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe that drew then-President Ford, Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev and other world leaders. Matthew Carey, Deadline, 27 Mar. 2025 Historian Leonid Marushchak, co-founder of NGO Museum Open for Renovation, has evacuated almost 2 million artifacts — paintings, sculptures and so on — as Russian forces continue to target and desolate museums around the country. Leah Asmelash, CNN, 8 Mar. 2025 Analyst Leonid Timashev initiated coverage of the biopharmaceutical stock at an outperform rating. Alex Harring, CNBC, 25 Feb. 2025 Under the likes of Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov, the Soviet Union was well-known for its extensive use of propaganda, including the promotion of elite sportspeople like ice hockey star Vladislav Tretiak and soccer goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Jamie Barton, CNN, 15 Feb. 2025 In 1975, the Russian mathematician Leonid Kantorovich shared the Nobel in economic science for refining a rigorous mathematical theory for the optimum allocation of resources. Siobhan Roberts, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2025 One soldier, Leonid, huddled in the bone-chilling cold. Erin Banco, Anastasiia Malenko, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin Leon-, Leo; from their appearing to radiate from a point in Leo

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Leonid was in 1876

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Leonid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Leonid. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

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