impactor

What it means

1. Any of several machines or devices in which a part impacts on another, or on a material.

   cascade impactor

2. An object which impacts another.

   Chicxulub impactor

   1 more example

   Although Dr. Bottke remains unconvinced that the impactor had a cometary origin, he noted that the asteroid explanation also raised many exciting and unresolved questions.

   2021 February 15, Becky Ferreira, “Where Did the Dinosaur-Killing Impactor Come From?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

In a sentence

cascade impactor

Where it comes from

1. New Latinimpāctor
2. Englishimpactor

Borrowed from New Latin impāctor, from impingō + -tor.