How to Use centripetal in a Sentence

centripetal

adjective
Definition of centripetalnext
  • But even this most epic of tales is shaped by the centripetal forces of human nature.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 May 2021
  • Centrifugal throws things out and away, and centripetal pulls inward like a whirlpool.
    — Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 23 July 2021
  • At such an instant in such a case, the force pushing towards the center of the circle (thus the centripetal force) would be the centrifugal force.
    — Rhett Allain, WIRED, 26 Apr. 2009
  • Tiffany seems intent on staying close to her centripetal father.
    — Alessandra Stanley, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2016
  • But filmmakers soon grasped the centripetal seductions of the human face in tight focus.
    — Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Stacked guitar swells break away at the song’s midpoint, low and rumbling, stepping just ahead of the beat; the effect is wistful and centripetal, the sound of moving forward with friends who know your past.
    — The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2017
  • The clean, centripetal choreography that once stood for the global has given way to contaminated streams and surges.
    — Jason Farago, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2021
  • What about the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration?
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 15 Oct. 2021
  • However, adopting a mindset that encompasses centrifugal and centripetal forces will help HR managers maintain balance on the fulcrum of inward and outward trends.
    — Naira Velumyan, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2021
  • The contemporary designs in the show, with their striking colors, detailed craftsmanship and conceptual twists, can seem light years away from their sturdy, functional ancestors, like a centripetal spring chair made by Thomas Warren in 1849.
    — Emily Ferguson, WSJ, 1 Oct. 2021
  • These emerging centripetal forces couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time, with the U.K. hailing its departure from the EU as a fundamental reason behind its successful vaccination rollout.
    — Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 21 May 2021
  • The gravitational force makes the planet accelerate and move around in a circle (centripetal acceleration).
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 8 Mar. 2021
  • The actor seems always right at home in Almodóvar’s off-kilter universe, where the gravitational pull of philosophical pathos and nakedly honest emotion balances out the centripetal forces of absurdist humor and erotic camp.
    — Sergio Burstein, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2022
  • The magnitude of acceleration for an object like this is called centripetal acceleration (which means center-pointing).
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 16 Jan. 2021
  • And even where Republicans represent urban and/or coastal communities, or high-immigration populations, the centripetal power of the GOP’s core constituencies make compromise difficult.
    — Ed Kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, 16 Feb. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'centripetal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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