precession

Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• præcession (obsolete)

Noun

precession (countable and uncountable; plural precessions)

1. (uncountable) precedence
   • But as it will not do to talk entirely at random, as Montaigne does, and Ralph Waldo Emerson tries to do, we must take up some little thread or threads. and string our thoughts thereupon, keeping up also a relation among them of precession and succession.
2. (physics, countable) The wobbling motion of the axis of a spinning body when there is an external force acting on the axis.
3. (astronomy, uncountable) The slow gyration of the earth’s axis around the pole of the ecliptic, caused mainly by the gravitational torque of the sun and moon.
4. Any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters.

Derived terms

• Larmor precession
• precession of the equinoxes
• precession of the ecliptic
• axial precession
• orbital, apsidal, and perihelion precession are synonymous

Translations

precedence

Finnish: etusija

physics term

Ancient Greek: μετάπτωσις f. Dutch: precessie (nl) f. Finnish: prekessio

Greek: μετάπτωση (el) (metáptosi) f. Polish: precesja (pl) f. Spanish: precesión (es)

astronomical term

Ancient Greek: μετάπτωσις f. Dutch: precessie (nl) f. Finnish: prekessio French: précession (fr) f.

Greek: μετάπτωση (el) (metáptosi) f. Hungarian: precesszió (hu), előrehaladás (hu) (állócsillagoké) Japanese: 歳差 (ja) (さいさ, saisa) Polish: precesja (pl) f.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Swedish: precession (sv) c.

Anagrams

• encopresis
• necropsies