terraform
verb
Anne BarnardAustin (Texas) American StatesmanMike Helton
Did you know?
In the world of science fiction, life (uh) finds a way. Such is the goal of terraforming, a concept that has long served as a sci-fi staple. In fact, the word terraform can be traced to the genre’s Golden Age: the first known use of terraform was by the science fiction writer Jack Williamson who, writing under the pseudonym Will Stewart, included the word in his 1942 story “Collision Orbit.” Terraform applies the Latin noun terra (“land, earth”) as a prefix to the English verb form (“to shape or develop”). (Terra is evidenced in many English words, including terrain, terrace, and terra-cotta.) You may ask, “what is the future of terraforming?” Suffice it to say, we have no earthly idea.
Examples of terraform in a Sentence
Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 2 June 2025
Virtual minds floating in a computer made out of the planet Mercury orchestrate an effort to terraform other planets.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 Dec. 2024
Just as vanguard American space outfits are now perfecting the Starships to explore and terraform Mars, their celestial counterparts in more advanced societies are likely to launch never-ending waves of space odysseys to reach other star systems.
—Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2024
This strategy to terraform the planet—or alter it to more closely resemble Earth—could be a step toward making Mars more hospitable to humans.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
Annalee Newitz’s latest novel takes place on a single planet over a thousand years, where a corporation is looking to terraform it so humans can live there comfortably.
—Vanessa Armstrong, Vulture, 27 July 2023
On the planet Sask-E, her mission is to terraform an Earthlike world, with the help of her companion moose, Whistle.
—Donna Wares, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2023
And making an organism to terraform Saturn's moon Titan, if even possible, would undoubtedly cost more than some billionaire's chump change.
—Steve Mirsky, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2020
Instead of changing a whole planet, why not just terraform a few choice locations?
—Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2016
Cite this Entry
“Terraform.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terraform. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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