precession

See also: précession

English

Alternative forms

• præcession (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English precessioun, precession, from Medieval Latin prēcessiōn-, prēcessio, from Latin praecēdō.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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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.

Hyponyms

astronomy: Hyponyms of precession

• apsidal precession
• axial precession
• Larmor precession
• Lense-Thirring precession
• orbital precession
• perihelion precession
• precession of the ecliptic
• precession of the equinoxes

Related terms

• precess

Translations

precedence

Bulgarian: напредване (bg) n (napredvane) Czech: předcházení n Finnish: etusija (fi)

physics term

Ancient Greek: μετάπτωσις f (metáptōsis) Czech: precese f Dutch: precessie (nl) f Finnish: prekessio (fi) German: Präzession (de) f Greek: μετάπτωση (el) f (metáptosi) Norwegian: presesjon m Polish: precesja (pl) f Russian: преце́ссия (ru) f (precéssija) Spanish: precesión (es)

astronomical term

Ancient Greek: μετάπτωσις f (metáptōsis) Bulgarian: прецесия f (precesija) Chinese: Mandarin: 進動 / 进动 (jìndòng), 旋進 / 旋进 (zh) (xuánjìn), 歲差 / 岁差 (zh) (suìchā) Czech: precese f Dutch: precessie (nl) f Finnish: prekessio (fi) French: précession (fr) f German: Präzession (de) f Greek: μετάπτωση (el) f (metáptosi) Hungarian: precesszió (hu), előrehaladás (hu) (állócsillagoké) Irish: luainíocht f Japanese: 歳差 (さいさ, saisa), 歳差運動 (ja) (saisa undou), 首振り運動 (kubifuri undou) Kazakh: прецессия (presessiä) Korean: 세차(歲差) (secha) Polish: precesja (pl) f Russian: преце́ссия (ru) f (precéssija)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Swedish: (please verify) precession c

Further reading

• precession on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• encopresis, necropsies, preconises