ptolemaic system
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.33 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
3
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A geocentric model of the solar system, described by the eponymous astronomer.
Example Sentences
- "The theories in your books are almost as obsolete as the Ptolemaic System."
- "[T]o Hipparchus we owe that theory of the heavens, commonly called the Ptolemaic system, which, starting from the assumption that the earth was the centre of the universe, attempted to explain the motions of the heavenly bodies by a complex system of supposed eccentrics and epicycles."
- "Singh … criticizes the Ptolemaic system for its "inordinately complex" heaps of epicycles on epicycles, but declares that in some respects it was more accurate than the Copernican system."
Etymology
After Greek-Roman astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (c. 90 - c. 168 AD), who explained the theory in an influential work.