Wiktionary

spherical

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

English spheric +‎ -al (see sphere), from Latin sphericus (+ -al), from Ancient Greek σφαιρικός (sphairikós).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /sfɛɹɪkəl/, /sfiːɹɪkəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkəl

Adjective edit

spherical (comparative more spherical, superlative most spherical)

  1. (geometry) Shaped like a sphere.
    Synonyms: globular, orbicular, round
    • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
      The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.
  2. (geometry, not comparable) Of, or pertaining to, spheres.
  3. (mathematics) Of a coordinate system, specifying the location of a point in a plane by using a radius and two angles.
  4. (astrology) Of or relating to the heavenly orbs, or to the sphere or spheres in which, according to ancient astronomy and astrology, they were set.
  5. (statistics, econometrics) Of a multivariate probability distribution, to have a covariance matrix equal to the identity matrix up to a multiplicative factor.
    a spherical Gaussian distribution

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Scots edit

Etymology edit

From English spherical.

Adjective edit

spherical

  1. spherical
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