spherical

adjective

spher·​i·​cal ˈsfir-i-kəl 

ˈsfer-

1

: having the form of a sphere or of one of its segments

2

: relating to or dealing with a sphere or its properties

spherically

ˈsfir-i-k(ə-)lē 

ˈsfer-

adverb

Did you know?

Something spherical is like a sphere in being round, or more or less round, in three dimensions. Apples and oranges are both spherical, for example, even though they're never perfectly round. A spheroid has a roughly spherical shape; so an asteroid, for instance, is often spheroidal—fairly round, but lumpy.

Synonyms of spherical

• circular
• cylindrical
• curved
• globular
• round

Examples of spherical in a Sentence

the planet Earth is not, in fact, perfectly spherical

Recent Examples on the Web

Beyond immersive spherical video, it’s engineered to function as a point-and-shoot camera for flat social clips, or a traditional single-lens action cam when instant sharing makes more sense. — New Atlas, 13 Aug. 2026

For example, Galileo observed that the moon was not perfectly spherical in 1610, allowing for a more precise prediction of where the natural satellite’s shadow will fall during an eclipse. — Taylor Nicioli, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026

That’s because Sprenger got to use very special equipment — the Todd-AO 65mm spherical lenses, which haven’t been used since productions like Oklahoma! — Beatrice Verhoeven, HollywoodReporter, 10 Aug. 2026

Eos, which dominated the 2010s with brightly colored spherical balms, entered the gloss-balm hybrid space last month with Dewy Lip Shine. — Daisy Maldonado, InStyle, 5 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing spherical

• spherical aberration
• spherical angle
• spherical coordinate
• spherical geometry
• spherical polygon
• spherical triangle
• spherical trigonometry

Rhymes for spherical

• clerical
• anticlerical
• hemispherical
• chimerical
• hysterical
• numerical

Kids Definition

spherical

adjective

spher·​i·​cal ˈsfir-i-kəl 

ˈsfer-

: relating to or having the form of a sphere or part of a sphere

spherically

-k(ə-)lē 

adverb