precess

verb

pre·​cess prē-ˈses  ˈprē-ˌses 

precessed; precessing; precesses

intransitive verb

: to progress with a movement of precession

transitive verb

: to cause to precess

Examples of precess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Meanwhile, the binary stars' own orbits also precess due the rules of general relativity. —Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 16 Feb. 2026

Signals from precessing protons in the two coils, though, will reinforce one another. —David Schneider, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Nov. 2025

But Earth has a massive Moon, which pulls on Earth’s spin axis and drives it to precess faster. —Gongjie Li, Discover Magazine, 11 Jan. 2024

And because jets are thought to align with the axis of the disk, a precessing disk should also produce a corkscrew jet. —science.org, 25 Apr. 2023

The rocket soon appeared to begin precessing about its long axis like a toy top slowing down. —William Harwood, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2023

If the black holes' spins are out of alignment with their orbit, then the black hole spins will precess like spinning tops while also maintaining their anti-alignment. —Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 24 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from precession

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Rhymes for precess

• abbess
• abscess
• access
• address
• assess
• caress
• confess
• depress
• digress
• distress
• egress
• excess