gyroscope

gy·ro·scope | \ ˈjī-rə-ˌskōp

How to pronounce gyroscope (audio)

, British also ˈgī- \

Definition of gyroscope

: a wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and also free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each other and to the axis of spin so that a rotation of one of the two mutually perpendicular axes results from application of torque to the other when the wheel is spinning and so that the entire apparatus offers considerable opposition depending on the angular momentum to any torque that would change the direction of the axis of spin

Other Words from gyroscope Example Sentences Learn More about gyroscope

Keep scrolling for more

Examples of gyroscope in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Inside the Forerunner 645 Music is the typical bevy of sensors found in high-end Garmin devices: accelerometer, gyroscope, barometric altimeter, thermometer, compass, heart-rate monitor, and GPS and GLONASS. — Valentina Palladino, Ars Technica, "Garmin Forerunner 645 Music review: The high price of tunes on a runner’s tool," 16 Mar. 2018 Androids are commonly equipped with a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetic-field detector; their sensors can calculate heart rate and count steps. — Brian Barth, The New Yorker, "Big Tech’s Big Defector," 25 Nov. 2019 Malfunctioning gyroscopes will kill all of NASA’s space telescopes, given enough time. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "NASA Fixed Hubble the Same Way You Fix Your Computer," 23 Oct. 2018 Hubble, meanwhile, remains out of action with a more serious gyroscope issue that cropped up Oct. 5. — Marcia Dunn, The Seattle Times, "NASA X-ray Space Telescope back online after brief shutdown," 17 Oct. 2018 Partly thanks to smartphones, which are packed with everything from miniaturised cameras to gyroscopes and accelerometers, the cost of tiny sensors is dropping. — The Economist, "Drastic falls in cost are powering another computer revolution," 12 Sep. 2019 Then the ball, spinning like a gyroscope, suddenly hung a sharp left turn and crossed into fair territory. — Gary Peterson, The Mercury News, "Cardinals’ ‘Twilight Zone’ single baffles Giants; payback for Pence?," 4 Sep. 2019 Today, the company announced the new Note 10 that now comes in a few variants: a regular Note 10 and a Note 10 Plus that includes a new S Pen with Bluetooth and a gyroscope. — Natt Garun, The Verge, "The 7 biggest announcements from the Samsung Note 10 event," 7 Aug. 2019 The spacecrafts’ gyroscopes are small spinning wheels that work to rotate the telescope and keep it stable while observing. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Another NASA Space Telescope Has Gone Offline," 12 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gyroscope.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about gyroscope

Dictionary Entries near gyroscope

gyroscopic compass

gyrostabilization

Statistics for gyroscope

Last Updated

23 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Gyroscope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gyroscope. Accessed 18 Feb. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

bootless

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

More Confusing Words—Quiz

The magician ______ moved the selected card to the top of the deck.

discreetly discretely

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.