CENTRIFUGAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does centrifugal mean? 

• CENTRIFUGAL (adjective)
  The adjective CENTRIFUGAL has 3 senses:

1. tending to move away from a center

2. tending away from centralization, as of authority

3. conveying information to the muscles from the CNS

  Familiarity information: CENTRIFUGAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CENTRIFUGAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tending to move away from a center

Context example:

centrifugal force

Similar:

outward-developing (away from an axis, as in a flower cluster in which the oldest flowers are in the center, the youngest near the edge)

outward-moving (moving or directed away from center, especially when spinning or traveling in a curve)

Antonym:

centripetal (tending to move toward a center)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tending away from centralization, as of authority

Context example:

the division of Europe into warring blocs produces ever-increasing centrifugal stress

Similar:

decentralising; decentralizing (tending away from a central point)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Conveying information to the muscles from the CNS

Synonyms:

centrifugal; motor

Context example:

motor nerves

Similar:

efferent; motorial (of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying information away from the CNS)

 Context examples 

Process of using a rotating machine to generate centrifugal force to separate substances of different densities, remove moisture, or simulate gravitational effects.

(Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)

This was done by dumping them into a spinning receptacle that went at a rate of a few thousand revolutions a minute, tearing the water from the clothes by centrifugal force.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A method of separating macromolecules by either their differential rate of sedimentation in a centrifugal gradient or their differential buoyancy in a density gradient.

(Density Gradient Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)

A method of separating cells by either their differential rate of sedimentation in a centrifugal gradient or their differential buoyancy in a density gradient.

(Cell Separation by Density Gradient Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)

What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal; when duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of accidents can balance it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)