libration
a real or apparent oscillatory motion, especially of the moon.
Origin of libration
1Other words from libration
- li·bra·tion·al, adjective
Words Nearby libration
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use libration in a sentence
For other worlds, we usually have to rely on other data: fluctuations in gravity, or the gentle rocking motion known as libration.
The authors of the new study used data from the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn to measure the libration of Mimas.
However, both the Moon and Mimas experience libration wobbling slightly and bringing part of the “far side” into view.
To see how a global ocean could affect libration, take two bottles, fill one with sand and the other with water, then spin them.
But it is only an insignificant margin of the far side of the moon which this libration permits us to examine.
The Story of the Heavens | Robert Stawell Ball
One more astronomical discovery also he was to make—that of the moon's libration.
Pioneers of Science | Oliver LodgeIts rhythmic libration typified to him the principle of change in existence and of existence in change.
Studies in Logical Theory | John DeweyHere the honourable luminary gave a sort of modest libration, which convulsed the meeting with laughter.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II) | Augustus De MorganAt no time did Browning write verse which soars with a more steadfast and impassioned libration of wing.
Robert Browning | Edward Dowden
British Dictionary definitions for libration
/ (laɪˈbreɪʃən) /
the act or an instance of oscillating
a real or apparent oscillation of the moon enabling approximately 59 per cent of the surface to be visible from the earth over a period of time
Origin of libration
1Derived forms of libration
- librational, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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