different between obama vs sphere

English

Alternative forms

• sphære (archaic)
• sphear (archaic)
• spheare (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English spere, from Old French sphere, from Late Latin sph?ra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), of unknown origin. Not related to superficially similar Persian ????? (sepehr, “sky”) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sf??/
• (US) enPR: sfîr, IPA^(key): /sf??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Noun

sphere (plural spheres)

1. (mathematics) A regular three-dimensional object in which every cross-section is a circle; the figure described by the revolution of a circle about its diameter [from 14th c.].
2. A spherical physical object; a globe or ball. [from 14th c.]
   • 2011, Piers Sellers, The Guardian, 6 July:

     So your orientation changes a little bit but it sinks in that the world is a sphere, and you're going around it, sometimes under it, sideways, or over it.

3. (astronomy, now rare) The apparent outer limit of space; the edge of the heavens, imagined as a hollow globe within which celestial bodies appear to be embedded. [from 14th c.]
   • 1635, John Donne, "His parting form her":

     Though cold and darkness longer hang somewhere, / Yet Phoebus equally lights all the Sphere.

4. (historical, astronomy, mythology) Any of the concentric hollow transparent globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth, and which carried the heavenly bodies; there were originally believed to be eight, and later nine and ten; friction between them was thought to cause a harmonious sound (the music of the spheres). [from 14th c.]
   • , vol.1, p.153:

     It is more simplicitie to teach our children […] [t]he knowledge of the starres, and the motion of the eighth spheare, before their owne.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.6:

     They understood not the motion of the eighth sphear from West to East, and so conceived the longitude of the Stars invariable.

5. (mythology) An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc. [from 14th c.]
6. (figuratively) The region in which something or someone is active; one's province, domain. [from 17th c.]
   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.20:

     They thought – originally on grounds derived from religion – that each thing or person had its or his proper sphere, to overstep which is ‘unjust’.

7. (geometry) The set of all points in three-dimensional Euclidean space (or n-dimensional space, in topology) that are a fixed distance from a fixed point [from 20th c.].
8. (logic) The extension of a general conception, or the totality of the individuals or species to which it may be applied.

Synonyms

• (object): ball, globe, orb
• (region of activity): area, domain, field, orbit, sector
• (in geometry): 3-sphere (geometry), 2-sphere (topology)
• (astronomy: apparent surface of the heavens): See celestial sphere
• (astronomy: anything visible on the apparent surface of the heavens): See celestial body

Derived terms

• blogosphere
• ensphere
• sphere of influence
• sphere of interest

Related terms

• atmosphere
• hemisphere
• ionosphere
• planisphere
• spherical
• spheroid
• stratosphere
• troposphere

Translations

Verb

sphere (third-person singular simple present spheres, present participle sphering, simple past and past participle sphered)

1. (transitive) To place in a sphere, or among the spheres; to ensphere.
2. (transitive) To make round or spherical; to perfect.

See also

• ball (in topology)
• Mathworld article on the sphere
• PlanetMath article on the sphere

Anagrams

• Hesper, herpes, pesher, pheers

Middle French

Alternative forms

• sphaere
• spere

Noun

sphere f (plural spheres)

1. sphere (shape)

Descendants

• French: sphère

Old French

Alternative forms

• espere
• esphere
• spere

Noun

sphere f (oblique plural spheres, nominative singular sphere, nominative plural spheres)

1. sphere (shape)

Descendants

• English: sphere
• French: sphère

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (sphere, supplement)