GRAVITATIONAL FORCE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does gravitational force mean? 

• GRAVITATIONAL FORCE (noun)
  The noun GRAVITATIONAL FORCE has 1 sense:

1. (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface

  Familiarity information: GRAVITATIONAL FORCE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRAVITATIONAL FORCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

gravitation; gravitational attraction; gravitational force; gravity

Context example:

gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love

Hypernyms ("gravitational force" is a kind of...):

attraction; attractive force (the force by which one object attracts another)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gravitational force"):

solar gravity (the gravity of the sun)

 Context examples 

They say the gravitational force is likely caused by a black hole measuring about 1.4 trillion kilometers across.

(Astronomers Find New Evidence for Long-theorized Mid-sized Black Holes, VOA News)

The enormous gravitational force of such a massive body would accrete a gas envelope during formation, ballooning the planet to a gas giant the size of Neptune or even Jupiter.

(Astronomers confounded by massive rocky world, NASA)

The strange orbits of some objects in the farthest reaches of our solar system, hypothesised by some astronomers to be shaped by an unknown ninth planet, can instead be explained by the combined gravitational force of small objects orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune.

(Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by ‘Planet Nine’, University of Cambridge)