geodesy

American  

[jee-od-uh-see] / dʒiˈɒd ə si /

Also geodetics

noun

1. the branch of applied mathematics that deals with the measurement of the shape and area of large tracts of country, the exact position of geographical points, and the curvature, shape, and dimensions of the earth.

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geodesy British  

/ dʒɪˈɒdɪsɪ, ˌdʒiːəʊˈdɛtɪks /

noun

1. the branch of science concerned with determining the exact position of geographical points and the shape and size of the earth

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geodesy Scientific  

/ jē-ŏd′ĭ-sē /

1. The scientific study of the size and shape of the Earth, its field of gravity, and such varying phenomena as the motion of the magnetic poles and the tides.

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Other Word Forms

• geodesist noun

Etymology

Origin of geodesy

1560–70; < French géodésie < Greek geōdaisía, equivalent to geō- geo- + daí ( ein ) to divide + -sia, variant of -ia -ia (generalized from stems ending in t )

Example Sentences

The researchers hail from all manner of different fields, including ecology, plant sciences, soil sciences, computer science, robotics, geodesy and agricultural economics.

From Science Daily

Around the same time, international unions were created for astronomy, biology, chemistry, geodesy and geophysics, mathematics, physics and radio sciences.

From Nature

“Jakarta keeps sinking,” said Andreas, an expert in geodesy, or the measuring of the shape of the earth.

From Seattle Times

It “taught us about hot spot volcanism, about volcano seismology, geodesy, petrology, volcanic structure, hazard mitigation, gas geochemistry, and magmatic plumbing.”

From Washington Post

There are already facilities at the Technical University of Munich, and they’ll be merged into an interdisciplinary center for aviation, aerospace, and geodesy, which is the discipline for measuring Earth.

From The Verge