declination

Etymology

From Middle English declinacioun, borrowed from Middle French declination, from Latin declinatio. Doublet of declension.

noun

  1. At a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north.
  2. At a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane.
    Coordinate term: right ascension
  3. A refusal.
    the queen's declination from marriage 1746, Arthur Collins, Letters And Memorials Of State In the Reigns of Queen Mary
  4. (grammar, obsolete) Declension.
  5. (archaic) The act or state of bending downward; inclination.
    declination of the head
  6. (archaic) The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline.
    Summer […] is not looked on as a time of declination or decay. c. 1635, Edmund Waller, To My Young Lady Lucy Sidney
  7. (archaic) Deviation.
    November 2, 1690, Robert South, Sinners Inexcusable from Natural Religion Only every violation of and declination from the rules

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