English Explanatory Dictionary

sphere

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A surface in three dimensions consisting of all points equidistant from a center. .
  2. An object which appears to be bounded by a sphere; a round object, a ball.
  3. The celestial sphere: the edge of the heavens, imagined as a hollow globe within which celestial bodies appear to be embedded.
  4. 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).
  5. An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc.
  6. The region in which something or someone is active; one's province, domain.
  7. The natural, normal, or proper place (of something).
  8. 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 .
  9. The domain of reference of a proposition, subject, or predicate, or the totality of the particular subjects to which it applies.
verb
  1. To place in a sphere, or among the spheres; to ensphere.
  2. To make round or spherical; to perfect.

Pronunciation

/sfɪə/ /sfɪː/ /ˈsfɪj.ə/ sfîr /sfɪɚ/ en-us-sphere.ogg /sfiɾ/ /sfɛː/

Word forms

sphere spheres sphaere sphære sphear spheare sphering sphered

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek σφαῖρᾰ (sphaîră)bor. Latin sphaera Late Latin sphērader. Old French spherebor. Middle English spere English sphere From Middle English spere, from Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), of unknown origin. Not related to superficially similar Persian سپهر (sepehr, “sky”) . Displaced Old English cliewen, þoþor, and æppel.

Synonyms

2-sphere orb area field orbit sector element

Related words

atmosphere hemisphere magnetosphere n-sphere planisphere -sphere spherical spheroid mul:S ball Mathworld article on the sphere PlanetMath article on the sphere

Derived words

Afrosphere Alexander horned sphere amylosphere angiosphere anthosphere armillary sphere asphere astrosphere Bloch sphere bronchosphere cardiosphere carposphere caulosphere circumsphere colonosphere colosphere conisphere cosmosphere cosphere cryptosphere crystal sphere Debye sphere demisphere digisphere diving sphere Dyson sphere ectosphere endosphere ensphere enterosphere episphere esophagosphere exotic sphere fluorosphere fold sphere halfsphere hemisphere hepatosphere Hill sphere homology sphere Hubble sphere hypersphere icosasphere immunosphere incelosphere intersphere Klerksdorp sphere liposphere macrosphere medullosphere megalosphere memosphere microsphere microspherocyte midsphere minisphere multisphere myosphere myrmecosphere nanosphere

Translations

Albanian: sferë Arabic: فَلْكَة Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܸܣܦܹܝܪܵܐ Aramaic: ܐܣܦܝܪܐ Armenian: գունդ Asturian: esfera Bashkir: сфера Basque: esfera Belarusian: сфе́ра Belarusian: сфэ́ра Bengali: গোলক Bulgarian: сфе́ра Catalan: esfera Chinese Mandarin: 球體 /球体 Czech: koule Danish: kugle Dutch: bol Esperanto: sfero Estonian: kera Estonian: sfäär Finnish: pallo French: sphère French: boule Galician: esfera Georgian: სფერო Georgian: ბურთი German: Kugel Greek: σφαίρα Ancient Greek: σφαῖρα Hebrew: כַּדּוּר Hebrew: סְפֶרָה Hindi: गोला Hungarian: gömb Icelandic: hnöttur Indonesian: bola Ingrian: šaara Irish: sféar Italian: sfera Japanese: 球 Japanese: 球体 Kannada: ಗೋಳ Korean: 구체 Latin: globus Latvian: sfēra Latvian: lode Lithuanian: rutulys Lithuanian: sfera Macedonian: сфера
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