spherical

spherical

English

Alternative forms

• sphærical (archaic)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sfɛɹɪkəl/, /sfiːɹɪkəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkəl

Adjective

spherical (comparative more spherical, superlative most spherical)

1. (geometry) Shaped like a sphere.
   • 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.

   Synonyms: globular, orbicular, round

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.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance.

Derived terms

• conospherical
• spherical aberration
• spherical angle
• spherical cap
• spherical distance
• spherical geometry
• sphericality
• spherical lune
• spherical sector
• spherical segment
• spherical triangle
• spherical trigonometry
• spherical wedge
• sphericity

 

Translations

shaped like a sphere

Arabic: كُرَوِيّ‎ (kurawiyy) Armenian: գնդաձեւ (hy) (gndajew) Assamese: ঘূৰণীয়া (ghuronia), গোল (gül), টুপুৰা (tupura) Asturian: esféricu (ast) Bulgarian: сферичен (bg) (sferičen), кълбовиден (bg) (kǎlboviden) Burmese: လုံး (my) (lum:) Catalan: esfèric (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 球形的 (qiúxíng de), 球面的 (qiúmiàn de) Czech: kulovitý (cs) Danish: sfærisk Dutch: bolvormig (nl) Esperanto: sfereca Estonian: sfääriline Finnish: pallomainen (fi), pyöreä (fi) French: sphérique (fr) Galician: esférico (gl) Georgian: სფერული (speruli) German: kugelförmig (de), sphärisch (de), kugelig (de) Greek: σφαιρικός (el) (sfairikós) Hungarian: gömbölyű (hu) Indonesian: bulat (id) Irish: sféarúil Italian: sferico (it) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Latin: globōsus Norwegian: Bokmål: sfærisk Nynorsk: sfærisk Occitan: esferic (oc) Pashto: غونډ‎ (ps) (ǧunḍ) Plautdietsch: runt Polish: sferyczny (pl), kulisty (pl) Portuguese: esférico (pt) Romanian: sferic (ro) Russian: сфери́ческий (ru) (sferíčeskij) Scots: spherical Spanish: esférico (es) Sundanese: buleud (su) Swedish: sfärisk (sv), klotformad (sv) Tagalog: timbulugin, timbulog (tl)

of or relating to a sphere or spheres

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Asturian: esféricu (ast) Catalan: esfèric (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 球形的 (qiúxíng de), 球面的 (qiúmiàn de) Danish: sfærisk Esperanto: sfera (eo) Finnish: pallo (fi) (pallo-) French: sphérique (fr) Galician: esférico (gl) m German: kugelförmig (de) Greek: σφαιρικός (el) (sfairikós) Italian: sferico (it) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: sfærisk Nynorsk: sfærisk Pashto: غونډ‎ (ps) (ǧunḍ) Polish: sferyczny (pl) Portuguese: esférico (pt) Russian: сфери́ческий (ru) (sferíčeskij) Spanish: esférico (es) Tagalog: timbulugin, timbulog (tl)

Further reading

• spherical in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• spherical in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• spherical at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• clipshear

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Scots

Etymology

From English spherical.

Adjective

spherical

1. spherical