centripetal

3 definitions found

centripetal - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Centripetal \Cen*trip"e*tal\, a. [L. centrum center + petere to
     move toward.]
     1. Tending, or causing, to approach the center.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Bot.)
        (a) Expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and
            proceeding in order towards the summit.
        (b) Having the radicle turned toward the axis of the
            fruit, as some embryos.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Progressing by changes from the exterior of a thing toward
        its center; as, the centripetal calcification of a bone.
        --R. Owen.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Centripetal force (Mech.), a force whose direction is
        towards a center, as in case of a planet revolving round
        the sun, the center of the system, See Centrifugal  force
        , under Centrifugal.
  
     Centripetal impression (Physiol.), an impression (sensory)
        transmitted by an afferent nerve from the exterior of the
        body inwards, to the central organ.
        [1913 Webster]

centripetal - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  centripetal
      adj 1: tending to move toward a center; "centripetal force"
             [ant: centrifugal]
      2: tending to unify [syn: centripetal, unifying(a)]
      3: of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing
         toward the central nervous system; "sensory neurons" [syn:
         centripetal, receptive, sensory(a)]

centripetal - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  19 Moby Thesaurus words for "centripetal":
     approaching, asymptotic, centrolineal, concentrating, concurrent,
     confluent, confocal, connivent, consolidating, converging, focal,
     meeting, mutually approaching, radial, radiating, tangent,
     tangential, unifying, uniting