Search Result for "gravitation": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface;
- Example: "the more remote the body the less the gravity"
- Example: "the gravitation between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them"
- Example: "gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein
[syn: gravity, gravitation, gravitational attraction, gravitational force]

2. movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction;
- Example: "irrigation by gravitation rather than by pumps"

3. a figurative movement toward some attraction;
- Example: "the gravitation of the middle class to the suburbs"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Gravitation \Grav"i*ta"tion\, n. [Cf. F. gravitation. See Gravity.] 1. The act of gravitating. [1913 Webster] 2. (Pysics) That species of attraction or force by which all bodies or particles of matter in the universe tend toward each other; called also attraction of gravitation, universal gravitation, and universal gravity. See Attraction, and Weight. [1913 Webster] Law of gravitation, that law in accordance with which gravitation acts, namely, that every two bodies or portions of matter in the universe attract each other with a force proportional directly to the quantity of matter they contain, and inversely to the squares of their distances. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

gravitation n 1: (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface; "the more remote the body the less the gravity"; "the gravitation between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them"; "gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein [syn: gravity, gravitation, gravitational attraction, gravitational force] 2: movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction; "irrigation by gravitation rather than by pumps" [ant: levitation] 3: a figurative movement toward some attraction; "the gravitation of the middle class to the suburbs"
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

GRAVITATION, n. The tendency of all bodies to approach one another with a strength proportion to the quantity of matter they contain -- the quantity of matter they contain being ascertained by the strength of their tendency to approach one another. This is a lovely and edifying illustration of how science, having made A the proof of B, makes B the proof of A.