Associations to the word «Sputnik»

Wiktionary

SPUTNIK, noun. (historical) Any of a series of Soviet robotic space satellites, especially the first one in 1957.
SPUTNIK, noun. (dated) Any artificial satellite.
SPUTNIK MOMENT, noun. The moment that a country or a society, in particular the US, realizes that it needs to catch up with the apparent technological and scientific gap that exists between it and some other country, increasing its investment efforts into education and innovative R&D.

Dictionary definition

SPUTNIK, noun. A Russian artificial satellite; "Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth".

Wise words

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
Noam Chomsky