Definitions for nutation

• Definition
• Anagrams (144)

nutation nu·ta·tion

Spelling: [noo-tey-shuh n, nyoo-]

IPA: /nuˈteɪ ʃən, nyu-/

Nutation is a 8 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 8 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 11 points.

You can make 144 anagrams from letters in nutation (ainnottu).

Definitions for nutation

noun

1. an act or instance of nodding one's head, especially involuntarily or spasmodically.
2. Botany. spontaneous movements of plant parts during growth.
3. Astronomy. the periodic oscillation observed in the precession of the earth's axis and the precession of the equinoxes.
4. Mechanics. the variation of the inclination of the axis of a gyroscope to the vertical.

Origin of nutation

1605-15; Latin nūtātiōn- (stem of nūtātiō), equivalent to nūtāt(us) (past participle of nūtāre to nod repeatedly; nū- nod + -tā- frequentative suffix + -tus past participle ending) + -iōn-

Examples for nutation

This led him to the discovery of the “aberration” of light and of nutation.

Even the tides and precession of the equinoxes and Bradley's nutation were accounted for and explained.

This inclination is only altered in an insignificant degree by the movement of nutation.

Its position at a given time, independent of aberration and nutation.

Bradley also discovered that the positions of the stars were affected by the wabbling of the earth's axis, called its "nutation."

The position of the equinox independent of the effects of nutation.

This is scientifically denominated the nutation of the earth.

Sometimes this path is loopy, and its little nods correspond to nutation.

He has shown that the nutation of the earth's axis results from the moon's attraction on the bulging portion of our globe.

If, then, a part of the mass be latent, nutation will give too small a value.