propulsion

See also: propulsión

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin propulsio, propulsionis, from the past participle of Latin propello (“to drive forward, drive forth, drive away, drive out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpʌlʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

propulsion (countable and uncountable, plural propulsions)

1. The process of propelling, driving, or pushing, typically forward or onward; a propulsive force or impulse.
2. That which propels.
   • 1995, Joyce A. Hayes, Benjamin E. Goldberg, David M. Anderson, “Environmental Benefits of Chemical Propulsion”, in Ann F. Whitaker, editor, Aerospace Environmental Technology Conference, page 59:

     However, nuclear propulsion provides a very high specific impulse and consistent, long duration energy source.

   • 2013, Yung-Kang (Derby) Sun, Non-Propellant Propulsion for Space Flight, page 20:

     This propulsion provides an initial velocity for the vehicle in a short time span.

   • 2015, Peter Jedicke, Extreme Science: The Highway of Light and Other Man-Made Wonders, Scientific American:

     Solar-electric propulsion accelerates a spacecraft by means of a low-thrust ion jet.

Derived terms

• astronaut propulsion unit
• gravitational propulsion
• jet propulsion

Related terms

• propel

Translations

the action of driving or pushing

Bulgarian: задвижване (bg) n (zadvižvane) Catalan: propulsió f Chinese: Mandarin: 動力 / 动力 (zh) (dònglì), 推進力 / 推进力 (zh) (tuījīnlì) Danish: fremdrift (da) c Dutch: voortstuwing (nl) f Finnish: työntö (fi), työntövoima (fi), propulsio French: propulsion (fr) f Galician: propulsión f Georgian: წინსვლა (c̣insvla) German: Antrieb (de) m Hindi: प्रणोदन m (praṇodan) Hungarian: meghajtás (hu) Japanese: 推力 (ja) (suiryoku) Portuguese: propulsão (pt) f Romanian: propulsare (ro) f, propulsie (ro) f Russian: дви́жущая си́ла (ru) f (dvížuščaja síla), пропу́льсия f (propúlʹsija) Scottish Gaelic: sparradh m Sindhi: ڌُوڪَ (sd) (Dhooka) Spanish: propulsión (es) f Tamil: உந்து (ta) (untu)

References

• “propulsion”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• propulsion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin propulsiōnem, from Latin propulsus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.pyl.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Hérault)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

propulsion f (plural propulsions)

1. propulsion [from 1640]

Related terms

• autopropulsion
• propulser
• propulseur
• propulsif

Further reading

• “propulsion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.