precession
See also: précession
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English precessioun, precession, from Medieval Latin prēcessiōn-, prēcessio, from Latin praecēdō.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
precession (countable and uncountable, plural precessions)
- (uncountable) Precedence.
- But as it will not do to talk entirely at random, as Montaigne does, and Ralph Waldo Emerson tries to do, we must take up some little thread or threads. and string our thoughts thereupon, keeping up also a relation among them of precession and succession.
- (physics, countable) The wobbling motion of the axis of a spinning body when there is an external force acting on the axis.
- (astronomy, uncountable) The slow gyration of the earth's axis around the pole of the ecliptic, caused mainly by the gravitational torque of the sun and moon.
- Any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters.
Hyponyms edit
astronomy: Hyponyms of precession
Related terms edit
Translations edit
precedence
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physics term
astronomical term
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Translations to be checked
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Further reading edit
- precession on Wikipedia.Wikipedia