Link Centre Dictionary

sphere

UK/sfɪə/ US/sfɪː/ fairly common

noun

1.

a particular environment or walk of life

  • “his social sphere is limited”
  • “it was a closed area of employment”
  • “he”
Synonyms
2.
3.

the geographical area in which one nation is very influential

Synonyms
4.

a particular aspect of life or activity

  • “he was helpless in an important sector of his life”
Synonyms
5.

a solid figure bounded by a spherical surface (including the space it encloses)

6.

a three-dimensional closed surface such that every point on the surface is equidistant from the center

7.

Origin

From Middle English spere, from Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), of unknown origin.

Phrases

  • Mathworld article on the sphere
  • PlanetMath article on the sphere
  • public sphere pedagogy
  • sphere of influence
  • sphere of interest
  • sphere of knowledge
  • sphere packing

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.