Definition of rotation
1a (1) : the action or process of rotating on or as if on an axis or center (2) : the act or an instance of rotating somethingb : one complete turn : the angular displacement required to return a rotating body or figure to its original orientation
2a : return or succession in a series rotation of the seasonsb : crop rotation
3 : the turning of a body part about its long axis as if on a pivot
4 : a game of pool in which all 15 object balls are shot in numerical order
5 : the series of pitchers on a baseball team who regularly start successive games in turn
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Examples of rotation in a Sentence
the rotation of the Earth around its axis
the rotation of the Moon around the Earth
The Earth makes one rotation every day.
Alfalfa and corn are planted in rotation.
the rotation of the job of club president
The car needs a tire rotation.
Recent Examples of rotation from the Web
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UCSD was energized in Thursday’s game by the performance of right-hander Kyle Goodbrand, a junior from Mission Viejo who didn’t get a regular turn in the Tritons’ starting rotation until the final month of the regular season.
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Anybody who leads a team whose rotation consists in part of Larry Hughes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Sasha Pavlovic to a 50-win season and a Finals appearance deserves some sort of medal.
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That caused the redshirt junior to miss the next week before easing his way back into the rotation against Texas A&M.
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Sale (5-2, 2.34) will square off with Jose Quintana (2-6, 4.82), who has struggled atop Chicago’s rotation in Sale’s absence.
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The struggles of Matt Harvey and Robert Gsellman have been the biggest drag on the rotation, but even deGrom went through a brief stretch of oddly uneven pitching this month.
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Jeff Locke finally looks ready to join the Marlins rotation.
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Helmin has been part of a four-player rotation in the outfield.
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On a solid spinning sphere in space, every point on the sphere is rotating at the same rate—24 hours for one rotation of Earth, for example.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rotation'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Circa 1550
First Known Use of rotation
circa 1550
ROTATION Defined for English Language Learners
rotation
playDefinition of rotation for English Language Learners
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: the act or process of moving or turning around a central point
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: a complete turn around a central point
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: the act of regularly changing something by replacing it with something else
ROTATION Defined for Kids
rotation
playDefinition of rotation for Students
1 : the act of turning about an axis
2 : the system of growing different crops in the same field usually in a regular order
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about rotation
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See words that rhyme with rotation Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for rotation Spanish Central: Translation of rotation Nglish: Translation of rotation for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of rotation for Arabic speakers
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