Word.ws English Dictionary

sphaera recta

/ˈsfiːɹə ˈɹɛktə/

sphaera recta noun: an idealised conception of the celestial sphere in which the celestial equator is perpendicular to the local horizon and the Sun reaches the zenith at its highest point.

Noun

sphaera recta (singulare tantum)

  1. (singular, singular-only) An idealised conception of the celestial sphere in which the celestial equator is perpendicular to the local horizon and the Sun reaches the zenith at its highest point.
    • There is a certain region lying to the south of us which is said to be under the equator, where the poles fall on the horizon, and the sphere of the universe stands straight up, as it were (sphaera recta).1932, Sir Thomas Little Heath, Greek Astronomy, page 135

Antonyms of sphaera recta

  • sphaera obliqua

Origin of sphaera recta

First attested in 1932; Latin: sphaera (“sphere”, “globe of the heavens”) + rēcta (feminine nominative singular of rēctus, “right”, “upright”) = “upright sphere”.

Questions about sphaera recta

What does sphaera recta mean?
Sphaera recta means an idealised conception of the celestial sphere in which the celestial equator is perpendicular to the local horizon and the Sun reaches the zenith at its highest point.
What part of speech is sphaera recta?
Sphaera recta is a noun.
How do you pronounce sphaera recta?
Sphaera recta is pronounced /ˈsfiːɹə ˈɹɛktə/.

Words near sphaera recta in the dictionary

  1. sphaceli
  2. sphacelic acid
  3. sphacelismus
  4. sphacelotoxin
  5. sphacelus
  6. sphaera recta
  7. sphaeraphides
  8. sphaeraphis
  9. sphaere
  10. sphaeres
  11. sphaerexochine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sphaera recta (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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