Trajectory Meaning
/tɹəˈd͡ʒɛktəɹi/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe path an object takes as it moves.
nounThe path of a body as it travels through space.
Sentence Examples
Sami was on a trajectory to do big things in life.
The trajectory of our history over the last 50, 100 years has been remarkable.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the rocket was carefully calculated by the scientists.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The scientists calculated the exact ____ of the small comet as it passed close to the earth earlier this morning today.
Word Origin & History
From New Latin trāiectōria f (“trajectory”) (used by Newton), the feminine of trāiectōrius (“of or pertaining to throwing across”), from Latin trāiectus (“thrown over or across”), past participle of trāiciō, from trans- (“across, beyond”) (see trans-) + iaciō (“to throw”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw, impel”)). Middle French and Middle English had trajectorie (“end of a funnel”), from Latin trāiectōrium.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The USA were dominant but, to England’s immense credit, they repeatedly rallied, refusing to fold. Indeed they could conceivably have gone in level at the interval had Naeher not made an acrobatic, stretching, fingertip save to divert Walsh’s 25-yard thunderbolt as it whizzed unerringly on its apparently inexorable trajectory towards the top corner."
— 2019 July 2, Louise Taylor, The Guardian:
"It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted."
— 2013 March 26, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2017, page 83:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the rocket was carefully calculated by the scientists.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The scientists calculated the exact ____ of the small comet as it passed close to the earth earlier this morning today.