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Circle vs Spherical - What's the difference?

circle | spherical |

As a noun circle

is (lb) a two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.

As a verb circle

is to travel around along a curved path.

As an adjective spherical is

(label) shaped like a sphere.

circle

English

(wikipedia circle)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (lb) A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.
  • :The set of all points (x'', ''y'') such that (x-1)2 + y2 = r2 is a circle of radius ''r around
  • A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance from another point.
  • Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.
  • :
  • A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.
  • :
  • Orbit.
  • A specific group of persons.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened.
  • *
  • *:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle , a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • *
  • *:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"
  • *1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • *:The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles .
  • (lb) A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.
  • (lb) A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.
  • (lb) A traffic circle or roundabout.
  • *2011 , Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom , p.120:
  • *:He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid
  • (lb) Compass; circuit; enclosure.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:in the circle of this forest
  • (lb) An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle''; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a ''meridian'' or ''transit circle''; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a ''reflecting circle''; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a ''repeating circle .
  • A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.
  • (lb) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
  • *(Joseph Glanvill) (1636-1680)
  • *:That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing.
  • Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
  • * (1579-1625)
  • *:Has he given the lie, / In circle , or oblique, or semicircle.
  • A territorial division or district.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (two-dimensional outline geometric figure) coil (not in mathematical use), ring (not in mathematical use), loop (not in mathematical use) * (two-dimensional solid geometric figure) disc/disk (in mathematical and general use), round (not in mathematical use; UK & Commonwealth only ) * (curve) arc, curve * (orbit) orbit * (a specific group of persons) bunch, gang, group

    Derived terms

    * arctic circle

    Verb

    (circl)
  • To travel around along a curved path.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Other planets circle other suns.
  • To surround.
  • * Dampier
  • Their heads are circled with a short turban.
  • * Coleridge
  • So he lies, circled with evil.
  • To place or mark a circle around.
  • Circle the jobs that you are interested in applying for.
  • To travel in circles.
  • Vultures circled overhead.

    Derived terms

    * circle the drain

    spherical

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (label) Shaped like a sphere.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
  • (label) (no comparative or superlative ) Of, or pertaining to, spheres.
  • (label) Of a coordinate system, specifying the location of a point in a plane by using a radius and two angles.
  • (label) Of or relating to the heavenly orbs, or to the sphere or spheres in which, according to ancient astronomy and astrology, they were set.
  • *1606 : (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , Act 1, Scene 2
  • Knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance.

    Synonyms

    * (shaped like a sphere) globular, orbicular, round

    Derived terms

    * spherical aberration * spherical angle * spherical cap * spherical distance * spherical geometry * sphericality * spherical lune * spherical sector * spherical segment * spherical triangle * spherical trigonometry * spherical wedge * sphericity