Centripetal

//sɛnˈtɹɪp.ə.tl̩// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Directed or moving towards a centre. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of, relating to, or operated by centripetal force. not-comparable

    "It was a centripetal time, with me at the centre, everything gravitating towards me."

  3. 3
    Directed towards the central nervous system; afferent. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to move toward a center wordnet
  2. 2
    of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing toward the central nervous system wordnet
  3. 3
    tending to unify wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unifyingafferentapproachingasymptoticaxipetalaxipetal

Example

More examples

"As the years progressed, Newton completed his work on universal gravitation, diffraction of light, centrifugal force, centripetal force, inverse-square law, bodies in motion and the variations in tides due to gravity."

Etymology

From New Latin centripetālis coined by Sir Isaac Newton, from Latin centrum (“center”) + petō (“to seek, aim”) + -al. Analysable as centri- + -petal.

Related phrases

centripetal accelerationcentripetal forcecentral nervous systemcentripetal force

More for "centripetal"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.