Which term describes a meteor that is brighter than any of the planets?

A fireball is a brighter-than-usual meteor. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines a fireball as "a meteor brighter than any of the planets".

A relatively small percentage of fireballs hit Earth's atmosphere and then pass out again: these are termed Earth-grazing fireballs. Such an event happened in broad daylight over North America in 1972. Another rare phenomena is a meteor procession, where the meteor breaks up into several fireballs traveling nearly parallel to the surface of Earth.

A steadily growing number of fireballs are recorded at the American Meteor Society every year. There are probably more than 500,000 fireballs a year, but most will go unnoticed because most will occur over the ocean and half will occur during daytime.