rotation

[roh-tey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of rotating; a turning around as on an axis.

2. Astronomy.

   1. the movement or path of the earth or a heavenly body turning on its axis.

   2. one complete turn of such a body.

3. regularly recurring succession, as of officials.

4. Agriculture.,  crop rotation.

5. Mathematics.

   1. an operation that rotates rotate a geometric figure about a fixed point.

   2. curl.

6. Pool.,  a game in which the balls are played in order by number.

7. Baseball.,  pitching rotation.

rotation

/ rəʊˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of rotating; rotary motion

2. a regular cycle of events in a set order or sequence

3. a planned sequence of cropping according to which the crops grown in successive seasons on the same land are varied so as to make a balanced demand on its resources of fertility

4. maths

   1. a circular motion of a configuration about a given point or line, without a change in shape

   2. a transformation in which the coordinate axes are rotated by a fixed angle about the origin

   3. Abbreviation (for sense 4c): rot. another name for curl

5. 1. the spinning motion of a body, such as a planet, about an internal axis Compare revolution

   2. one complete turn in such motion

rotation

1. The motion of an object around an internal axis.

2. A single complete cycle of such motion.

3. See Note at revolution

4. A transformation of a coordinate system in which the new axes have a specified angular displacement from their original position while the origin remains fixed.

Other Word Forms

• rotational adjective
• nonrotation noun
• nonrotational adjective
• unrotational adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rotation¹

1545–55; < Latin rotātiōn- (stem of rotātiō ) a rotation, rolling, equivalent to rotāt ( us ) ( rotate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Related Words

• orbit