precession

See also: précession

English

Alternative forms

  • præcession (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English precessioun, precession, from Medieval Latin prēcessiōn-, prēcessio, from Latin praecēdō.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

precession (countable and uncountable, plural precessions)

  1. (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.
  2. (physics, countable) The wobbling motion of the axis of a spinning body when there is an external force acting on the axis.
  3. (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.
  4. Any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters.

Hyponyms

astronomy: Hyponyms of precession

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading

Anagrams

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.