spherical

English

Alternative forms

• sphærical (archaic)

Etymology

English spheric +‎ -al (see sphere), from Latin sphericus (+ -al), from Ancient Greek σφαιρικός (sphairikós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sfɛɹɪkəl/, /sfiːɹɪkəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkəl

Adjective

spherical (comparative more spherical, superlative most spherical)

1. (geometry) Shaped like a sphere.

   Synonyms: globular, orbicular, round

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

2. (geometry, not comparable) Of, or pertaining to, spheres.
3. (mathematics) Of a coordinate system, specifying the location of a point in a plane by using a radius and two angles.
4. (astrology) Of or relating to the heavenly orbs, or to the sphere or spheres in which, according to ancient astronomy and astrology, they were set.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance.

5. (statistics, econometrics) Of a multivariate probability distribution, to have a covariance matrix equal to the identity matrix up to a multiplicative factor.

   a spherical Gaussian distribution

Derived terms

• conospherical
• semispherical
• spherical aberration
• spherical angle
• spherical cap
• spherical cone
• spherical coordinates
• spherical cow
• spherical distance
• spherical excess
• spherical geometry
• spherical harmonics
• sphericality
• spherical linear interpolation
• spherical lune
• spherical mirror
• spherical nucleic acid
• spherical sector
• spherical segment
• spherical triangle
• spherical trigonometry
• spherical wedge
• sphericity

 

Translations

shaped like a sphere

• Arabic: كُرَوِيّ (kurawiyy)
• Armenian: գնդաձեւ (hy) (gndajew)
• Assamese: ঘূৰণীয়া (ghuronia), গোল (gül), টুপুৰা (tupura)
• Asturian: esféricu (ast)
• Bulgarian: сферичен (bg) (sferičen), кълбовиден (bg) (kǎlboviden)
• Burmese: လုံး (my) (lum:)
• Catalan: esfèric (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 球形的 (qiúxíng de), 球面的 (qiúmiàn de)

• Czech: kulovitý (cs)
• Danish: sfærisk
• Dutch: bolvormig (nl)
• Esperanto: sfereca
• Estonian: sfääriline
• Finnish: pallomainen (fi), pyöreä (fi)
• French: sphérique (fr)
• Galician: esférico (gl)
• Georgian: სფერული (speruli)
• German: kugelförmig (de), sphärisch (de), kugelig (de)
• Greek: σφαιρικός (el) (sfairikós)
• Hungarian: gömbölyű (hu)
• Indonesian: bulat (id)
• Irish: sféarúil
• Italian: sferico (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: globōsus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sfærisk

  Nynorsk: sfærisk

• Occitan: esferic (oc)
• Ottoman Turkish: یومرو (yumru)
• Pashto: غونډ (ps) (ǧunḍ)
• Plautdietsch: runt
• Polish: sferyczny (pl), kulisty (pl)
• Portuguese: esférico (pt)
• Romanian: sferic (ro)
• Russian: сфери́ческий (ru) (sferíčeskij)
• Scots: spherical
• Spanish: esférico (es)
• Sundanese: buleud (su)
• Swedish: sfärisk (sv), klotformad (sv)
• Tagalog: timbulugin, timbulog (tl)
• Ukrainian: сфери́чний (sferýčnyj), куля́стий (kuljástyj)

of or relating to a sphere or spheres

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: esféricu (ast)
• Catalan: esfèric (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 球形的 (qiúxíng de), 球面的 (qiúmiàn de)

• Danish: sfærisk
• Esperanto: sfera (eo)
• Finnish: pallo (fi) (pallo-)
• French: sphérique (fr)
• Galician: esférico (gl) m
• German: kugelförmig (de)
• Greek: σφαιρικός (el) (sfairikós)
• Italian: sferico (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sfærisk

  Nynorsk: sfærisk

• Pashto: غونډ (ps) (ǧunḍ)
• Polish: sferyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: esférico (pt)
• Russian: сфери́ческий (ru) (sferíčeskij)
• Spanish: esférico (es)
• Tagalog: timbulugin, timbulog (tl)
• Ukrainian: сфери́чний (sferýčnyj)

Further reading

• “spherical”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “spherical”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “spherical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• clipshear

Scots

Etymology

From English spherical.

Adjective

spherical

1. spherical