gravitational mass

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the mass of a body as measured by its gravitational attraction for other bodies.

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gravitational mass British  

noun

1. the mass of a body determined by its response to the force of gravity Compare inertial mass

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Compare meaning

How does gravitational-mass compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inertial mass vs. gravitational mass

Example Sentences

One surprise was that teachers were susceptible to the gravitational mass.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

That power derives from the gravitational mass of Walt Disney World, located outside Orlando.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 8, 2022

Objects and systems have properties of inertial mass and gravitational mass that are experimentally verified to be the same and that satisfy conservation principles.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

But if inertial and gravitational mass are different, then the flinging will affect the weights differently and the net force on each one will point in a slightly different direction.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 5, 2015

I just want to get the script and say, 'Here's what I said about gravitational mass and inertial mass, or about Einstein's general theory of relativity or about entropy.

From The Guardian • Mar. 24, 2011