How to Use centripetal in a Sentence

centripetal

adjective
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • According to my coworkers, there's no better way to dry off tender herbs and lettuces than with the power of centripetal motion.
    — Megan Wahn, Bon Appétit, 8 Oct. 2024
  • Here is a diagram showing the forces with a centripetal acceleration.
    — WIRED, 25 Sep. 2022
  • 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
  • That means the centripetal acceleration is also in the downward direction and towards the center of the circle.
    — WIRED, 25 Sep. 2022
  • Also, the bigger the radius of the circle, the smaller the centripetal acceleration.
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 15 Oct. 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
  • Like centripetal and centrifugal forces, Wilson Chin’s sparse, elegant turntable set suggests that the things that tie us down can also move us forward.
    — Juan A. Ramírez, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2022
  • The magnitude of acceleration for an object like this is called centripetal acceleration (which means center-pointing).
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 16 Jan. 2021
  • But this centripetal acceleration depends on both the angular velocity (ω) and the orbital distance (R).
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 8 Mar. 2021
  • The gravitational force makes the planet accelerate and move around in a circle (centripetal acceleration).
    — Rhett Allain, Wired, 8 Mar. 2021
  • Their mathemathical model is based on the idea that surface tension holds the water droplets to the animal's hair, and that centripetal forces from the shaking have to exceed that surface tension in order to free the water.
    — Eliza Strickland, Discover Magazine, 22 Oct. 2010
  • The three women are bound together with a centripetal intensity, in a hothouse of family mythology that Marilyn herself cultivates and tends.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2022
  • The evidence suggests that there are centripetal forces that keep metropolitan areas from continually expanding outward, and that centripetal force is going to remain.
    — Ian Duncan, Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2022
  • 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
  • Without a compelling and widely shared vision for the Ethiopian state, neither Abiy nor any potential successor will be able to prevent the centrifugal forces from overwhelming the centripetal ones.
    — Nic Cheeseman, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2021
  • In class, students investigate how speedskaters can lean dramatically toward the ice without falling by analyzing their centripetal acceleration and the forces acting on their bodies during high-speed turns.
    — Amy Pope, The Conversation, 2 Feb. 2026
  • 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
  • Artificial intelligence, often seen as a centrifugal force, could become a centripetal one for Europe—augmenting not only productivity, but collective intelligence.
    — François Candelon, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2026
  • 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
  • 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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