spherical
Americanadjective
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shaped like a sphere
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of or relating to a sphere
spherical geometry
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geometry formed on the surface of or inside a sphere
a spherical triangle
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of or relating to heavenly bodies
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of or relating to the spheres of the Ptolemaic or the Copernican system
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spherical
1515–25; < Late Latin sphēric ( us ) ( see spherics 1) + -al 1
Explanation
A ball is spherical; it's shaped like a sphere — a three-dimensional version of the two-dimensional circle. The ball image is a good one since the word sphere comes from very similar-sounding Greek and Latin words, both of which mean "ball." The word sphere, however, has much broader usage: we use it in to discussing astronomy, our earth, even our social rank (as in "one's sphere of influence"). Spherical, by contrast, has a much more limited use. It basically is a description of shape: if it's spherical, it simply looks like a ball.
Vocabulary lists containing spherical
50 Great Words from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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Unit 2: Evolution
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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.
Brian Goodison, an auctioneer at Bearnes Hampton Littlewood Auctioneers, said: "Spherical chicken eggs are quite unusual and there have been people that have paid north of £100 and sometimes £200 for them."
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025
Spherical snow grains would absorb more sunlight and melt more snow; the odd shapes of real flakes reflect more sunlight and melt less snow.
From Science Daily • Oct. 13, 2023
Spherical lenses are much more common for TV; anamorphics are used for certain “cinematic” looks often involving depth of field.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2023
Its vast size—overtaken only by China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope in 2016—made it exquisitely sensitive to faint radio sources such as collapsed stars called pulsars and subtle shifts of ionized gases in Earth’s ionosphere.
From Science Magazine • Oct. 18, 2022
Spherical in shape and covered in soft, custard-coloured fur, it is a docile creature that has no objection to being cuddled or thrown about.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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.
