inertial
Americanadjective
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relating to or characterized by inertia or inactivity.
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Physics. of or relating to the Newtonian property of matter, according to which matter remains at rest or in motion in a straight line until acted upon by an external force.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“All I care about now is going fast again and pulling g’s”—the feeling of inertial forces during aerial maneuvers.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
Kinsella expects these initiatives to draw attention to Infleqtion’s inertial sensing business, particularly its new Quantum Spectrum product line, which is designed to replace traditional antennas and analog receivers with atom-based radio frequency hardware.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
The guidance system also includes inertial navigation; future models are planned to have seeker modes for hitting moving targets.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
For air and sea navigation, start-ups are developing alternative technologies using Earth's magnetic field or inertial navigation.
From Barron's • Mar. 8, 2026
Orion was designed to utilize explosions of hydrogen bombs, nuclear weapons, against an inertial plate, each explosion providing a kind of “putt-putt,” a vast nuclear motorboat in space.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
