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.

   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.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance.

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

Translations

Further reading

• “spherical”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “spherical”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “spherical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• clipshear

Scots

Etymology

From English spherical.

Adjective

spherical

1. spherical