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.
Its plans at the time were well-documented, with the Walt Disney Co. initially giving Westcot, as it was to be called, a spherical answer to the Florida park’s Spaceship Earth.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
The goal: hit all seven players on the opposing team using perfectly spherical snowballs made with a special machine, or capture their flag.
From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026
It is impossible to draw a flat, rectangular map of the spherical Earth without distortions.
From Slate • Jan. 21, 2026
That is partly the result of viewing the spherical Earth on a flat map…
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
Most relevant here, though, is that the Pythagoreans were willing to entertain the notion of a spherical earth, and a nongeocentric cosmos.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
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.
