[syn: centripetal, receptive, sensory(a)]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Centripetal \Cen*trip"e*tal\, a. [L. centrum center + petere to
move toward.]
1. Tending, or causing, to approach the center.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Bot.)
(a) Expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and
proceeding in order towards the summit.
(b) Having the radicle turned toward the axis of the
fruit, as some embryos.
[1913 Webster]
3. Progressing by changes from the exterior of a thing toward
its center; as, the centripetal calcification of a bone.
--R. Owen.
[1913 Webster]
Centripetal force (Mech.), a force whose direction is
towards a center, as in case of a planet revolving round
the sun, the center of the system, See Centrifugal
force, under Centrifugal.
Centripetal impression (Physiol.), an impression (sensory)
transmitted by an afferent nerve from the exterior of the
body inwards, to the central organ.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
centripetal
adj 1: tending to move toward a center; "centripetal force"
[ant: centrifugal]
2: tending to unify [syn: centripetal, unifying(a)]
3: of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing
toward the central nervous system; "sensory neurons" [syn:
centripetal, receptive, sensory(a)]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
19 Moby Thesaurus words for "centripetal":
approaching, asymptotic, centrolineal, concentrating, concurrent,
confluent, confocal, connivent, consolidating, converging, focal,
meeting, mutually approaching, radial, radiating, tangent,
tangential, unifying, uniting