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centrifugal

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Tending to move away from a center.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sehntrihfyooguhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɛntɹɪfjuɡəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Tending to move away from a center

  2. Tending, or causing, to recede from the center.

  3. botany

    Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster.

noun

  1. A rotating machine used to separate massecuite into sugar crystals and molasses.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Tending to move away from a center

Used this way, centrifugal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

centrifugal forcecentrifugal pumpscentrifugal compressorcentrifugal fancentrifugal governorcentrifugal actioncentrifugal fieldcentrifugal casting

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • motor

    Relating to the ability to move.

  • efferent

    Carrying away from.

  • 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.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • centrifugationnounDerived noun

    The process of separating substances of different densities by the use of a centrifuge.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • centrifugal forcenounCompound term

    The outward force on a body moving in a curved path around another body.

  • centrifugal pumpnounCompound term

    A pump that use centrifugal force to discharge fluid into a pipe.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: rotating machine used to separate massecuite into sugar crystals and molasses

motor

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.