sphere
/sfɪɚ/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.91 in modern English
Meaning
noun
A surface in three dimensions consisting of all points equidistant from a center. .
noun
The celestial sphere: the edge of the heavens, imagined as a hollow globe within which celestial bodies appear to be embedded.
Archaic
noun
Any of the concentric hollow transparent globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth, and which carried the heavenly bodies; there were originally believed to be eight, and later nine and ten; friction between them was thought to cause a harmonious sound (the music of the spheres).
noun
An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc.
noun
The set of all points in three-dimensional Euclidean space (or n-dimensional space, in topology) that are a fixed distance from a fixed point .
Example Sentences
- "Of celestial bodies, first the sun, / A mighty sphere, he framed."
- "So your orientation changes a little bit but it sinks in that the world is a sphere, and you're going around it, sometimes under it, sideways, or over it."
- "Though cold and darkness longer hang somewhere, / Yet Phoebus equally lights all the Sphere."
- "Resistless rolls the illimitable sphere, / And one great circle forms the unmeasured year."
- "ſooner ſhall the Sun fall from his Spheare, Than Tamburlaine be ſlaine or ouercome."
- "It is more simplicitie to teach our children[…][t]he knowledge of the starres, and the motion of the eighth spheare, before their owne."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sfɪɚ/
- British English: /sfɪə/