spherical
spherical
Definition
spheri·cal (sfer′i kəl, sfir′-)
adjective
- shaped like a sphere; globular
- of a sphere or spheres
- Astrol. of the celestial spheres: sometimes with astrological reference
Etymology: < LL sphaericus < Gr sphairikos + -al
spher′i·cally adverb
spherical
Synonyms
spherical
modif.
spherical
Usage Examples
Adjective complement with noun phrase
- keep: An inflation force is used at each vertex to inflate the overall model, while surface tension attempts to keep the mesh spherical.
Modifies a noun
- aberration: The image, despite the spherical aberration, was by far superior to any existing microscope made by his contemporaries.
- trigonometry: These texts were the precursors of spherical trigonometry, which became vital to astronomy.
- harmonic: The current state of the art makes use of spherical harmonics.
- tokamak: The main highlights of the year include: First experimental campaign of our new spherical tokamak, MAST, which has been highly successful.
- tokamaks: Very low aspect ratio tokamaks are often called spherical tokamaks.
- harmonics: Be able to demonstrate the physical significance of closed shells by using plots of the spherical harmonics.
Used with adjective complement
- appear: Again, the planet does not appear perfectly spherical.
- become: One way for a three-dimensional object to decrease its surface area and to increase its volume is to become more spherical.
- have: Under the microscope, an anther can be seen to have many spherical to ellipsoidal pollen grains on its surface.
- look: Note also that wormholes should look spherical, not like tunnels!
Modifying Another Word
- roughly: The eye is a roughly spherical organ built a bit like a football.
- perfectly: His two perfectly spherical eyes like pools of ice.
- approximately: The body is approximately spherical up to 30 m m in diameter.
- nearly: Gravity attracts matter together into spherical stars, like the Sun, and nearly spherical planets like our Earth.
- almost: The almost spherical shape is due to the surface tension of the model.
- usually: These are followed by edible, usually spherical, fruits.
Preposition: in
- shape: He declared that the Earth, which possessed a divine essence or ' world soul ' , was perfectly spherical in shape.
Preposition: with
- diameter: They were spherical with a diameter of 28 to 30 nm.
Browse dictionary entries near spherical
- -sphere
- sphere of influence
- sphere
- spheral
- sphenoid
- sphenogram
- sphenodon
- spheno-
- sphene
- sphalerite
