CENTER OF GRAVITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does center of gravity mean? 

• CENTER OF GRAVITY (noun)
  The noun CENTER OF GRAVITY has 1 sense:

1. the point within something at which gravity can be considered to act; in uniform gravity it is equal to the center of mass

  Familiarity information: CENTER OF GRAVITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CENTER OF GRAVITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The point within something at which gravity can be considered to act; in uniform gravity it is equal to the center of mass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

center of gravity; centre of gravity

Hypernyms ("center of gravity" is a kind of...):

center; centre; midpoint (a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "center of gravity"):

center of flotation; centre of flotation (the center of gravity of a floating object)

 Context examples 

Over time, some stars begin to fall toward a common center of gravity, which is usually dominated by a particularly large protostar — and if the stars have a close encounter before they can escape their stellar nursery, violent interactions can occur.

(Dramatic Stellar Fireworks of Star Birth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This is consistent with a planet and moon orbiting a common center of gravity that would cause the planet to wobble from its predicted location, much the way Earth wobbles as our Moon orbits it.

(Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System, NASA)