Diccionario ingles.comDiccionario ingles.com
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Sphere   /sfɪr/   Listen
noun
Sphere  n.  
1.
(Geom.) A body or space contained under a single surface, which in every part is equally distant from a point within called its center.
2.
Hence, any globe or globular body, especially a celestial one, as the sun, a planet, or the earth. "Of celestial bodies, first the sun, A mighty sphere, he framed."
3.
(Astron.)
(a)
The apparent surface of the heavens, which is assumed to be spherical and everywhere equally distant, in which the heavenly bodies appear to have their places, and on which the various astronomical circles, as of right ascension and declination, the equator, ecliptic, etc., are conceived to be drawn; an ideal geometrical sphere, with the astronomical and geographical circles in their proper positions on it.
(b)
In ancient astronomy, one of the concentric and eccentric revolving spherical transparent shells in which the stars, sun, planets, and moon were supposed to be set, and by which they were carried, in such a manner as to produce their apparent motions.
4.
(Logic) The extension of a general conception, or the totality of the individuals or species to which it may be applied.
5.
Circuit or range of action, knowledge, or influence; compass; province; employment; place of existence. "To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't." "Taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself." "Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe Our hermit spirits dwell."
6.
Rank; order of society; social positions.
7.
An orbit, as of a star; a socket. (R.)
Armillary sphere, Crystalline sphere, Oblique sphere,. See under Armillary, Crystalline,.
Doctrine of the sphere, applications of the principles of spherical trigonometry to the properties and relations of the circles of the sphere, and the problems connected with them, in astronomy and geography, as to the latitudes and longitudes, distance and bearing, of places on the earth, and the right ascension and declination, altitude and azimuth, rising and setting, etc., of the heavenly bodies; spherical geometry.
Music of the spheres. See under Music.
Synonyms: Globe; orb; circle. See Globe.


verb
Sphere  v. t.  (past & past part. sphered; pres. part. sphering)  
1.
To place in a sphere, or among the spheres; to insphere. "The glorious planet Sol In noble eminence enthroned and sphered Amidst the other."
2.
To form into roundness; to make spherical, or spheral; to perfect.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Sphere" Quotes from Famous Books



... which he secretly wished was his own. The tender passion had been a new thing to the money-loving Arthur. By its elevating influences, he, who had looked for enjoyment only in wealth, had been enabled to raise his vision to a higher sphere of happiness. And thus to lose the bright glimpses, and be thrown back to earth again, was, in reality, however he might disguise the fact from others, a serious blow to his feelings, and one, indeed, which soon mainly led to a movement on his part that gave a new turn to his apparent ...
— Gaut Gurley • D. P. Thompson
... Nature, mourn for Adonais. (42) He is made one with Nature. (45) In 'the unapparent' he was welcomed by Chatterton, Sidney, Lucan, and (46) many more immortals, and was hailed as the master of a 'kingless sphere' in a 'heaven of song.' (48) Let any rash mourner go to Rome, and (49) visit the cemetery. (53) And thou, my heart, why linger and shrink? Adonais calls thee: be no longer divided from him. (55) The soul of Adonais beacons ...
— Adonais • Shelley
... while she ties A fillet of the weed about my head; And in the gaps of sleep I seem to hear A gentle rustle like the stir of corn, And words like odours thronging to my ear: "Lie still, beloved—still until the morn; Lie still with me upon this rolling sphere— Still till the judgment; thou ...
— Poetical Works of George MacDonald, Vol. 2 • George MacDonald
... diagram in dealing with such a topic as this; but perhaps recourse might without offence be had to this method—necessarily imperfect as it is—on account of its essential simplicity, and because it is calculated to remove misapprehensions. If we can think of a very large sphere, A, and, situated anywhere within this, of a very small sphere, a—then the relation of the smaller to the greater will be that of the sphere of immanence to the sphere of transcendence. The two ...
— Problems of Immanence - Studies Critical and Constructive • J. Warschauer
... unoppressed and unshackled. Oh! how splendid would be my career! I would not allow the change in my condition to exercise any influence on my natural disposition. I would experience the same passions and be subject to the same feelings, only they should be exercised and influential in a wider sphere. Then would be seen the influence of great wealth, directed by a disposition similar to that of the generality of men, inasmuch as it had been formed like that of the generality of men; and consequently, one much better acquainted with their ...
— Vivian Grey • The Earl of Beaconsfield


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com