precession

«precession» in Mova's school dictionary: The slow turning of the axis of a spinning object, such… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (precession, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) (science) The slow turning of the axis of a spinning object, such as a spinning top or the Earth, so that the axis traces a circle. tree →

2) (science) The slow change in the direction of Earth's axis, taking about 26,000 years for one circle. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, a spinning top wobbles in a circle: that is precession. Earth's axis also precesses slowly, so the North Star changes over thousands of years.

examples

• A spinning top shows precession when it wobbles. tree →
• Because of precession, Polaris will not always be the North Star. tree →
• Precession of the Earth's axis takes about 26,000 years. tree →
• The gyroscope's precession was slow. tree →
• Scientists measure precession with telescopes. tree →
• Precession changes which stars we see at the pole. tree →

note

Not «procession» (a line of people walking). Verb: precess.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «precession» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.