mean distance

nounAstronomy.

the arithmetic mean of the greatest and least distances of a planet from the sun, used in stating the size of an orbit; the semimajor axis.

Origin of mean distance

First recorded in 1885–90

Words Nearby mean distance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mean distance in a sentence

This speed, caused by the solar mass itself, keeps our planet at the same mean distance from the central star.
Urania | Camille Flammarion
The square of the time of revolution (or year) of each planet is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun.
Pioneers of Science | Oliver Lodge
On the orbit of the moon, at its mean distance from the earth, each of these straight sides would be about 6,000 feet long.
Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XXI., No. 531, March 6, 1886 | Various
It has been calculated that the whites advance a mean distance of seventeen miles along the whole of this vast boundary.
American Institutions and Their Influence | Alexis de Tocqueville et al.
The mean distance from the Atlantic to the Mississippi does not probably exceed seven hundred and fifty miles.
The Federalist Papers | Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

British Dictionary definitions for mean distance

mean distance

noun

the average of the greatest and least distances of a celestial body from its primary

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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