NUTATION

nutation

(noun) uncontrolled nodding

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

nutation (countable and uncountable, plural nutations)

(physics) A bobbing motion that accompanies the precession of a spinning rigid body.

A nodding motion (of the head etc.).

(astronomy) Any of several irregularities in the precession of the equinoxes caused by varying torque applied to the Earth by the Sun and the Moon.

(botany) The circular motion of the tip of a growing shoot.

Source: Wiktionary


Nu*ta"tion, n. Etym: [L. nutatio a nodding, fr. nutare to nod: cf. F. nutation.]

1. The act of nodding. So from the midmost the nutation spreads, Round and more round, o'er all the sea of heads. Pope.

2. (Astron.)

Definition: A very small libratory motion of the earth's axis, by which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly varying by a small amount.

3. (Bot.) (a) The motion of a flower in following the apparent movement of the sun, from the east in the morning to the west in the evening. (b) Circumnutation.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 June 2025

SQUARE

(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; “a square peg in a round hole”; “a square corner”


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