declination

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɛklɪˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

declination (countable and uncountable, plural declinations)

1. At a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north.

   Synonym: magnetic declination

2. At a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane.

   Synonym: δ

   Coordinate term: right ascension

3. A refusal.
   • 1746, Arthur Collins, Letters And Memorials Of State In the Reigns of Queen Mary:

     the queen's declination from marriage

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.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Cunning”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     the declination of monarchy

   • c. 1635, Edmund Waller, To My Young Lady Lucy Sidney:

     Summer […] is not looked on as a time of declination or decay.

7. (archaic) Deviation.
   • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

     this declination of atoms in their descent

   • November 2, 1690, Robert South, Sinners Inexcusable from Natural Religion Only

     every violation of and declination from the rules

Derived terms

• codeclination
• declinational
• declination circle

Related terms

• decline

Translations

at a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north

• Bulgarian: отклонение (bg) n (otklonenie), деклинация (deklinacija)
• Czech: deklinace (cs) f
• Finnish: eranto (fi), deklinaatio (fi)
• French: déclinaison (fr) f
• German: Deklination (de) f, Missweisung f, Ortsmissweisung f
• Greek: απόκλιση (el) f (apóklisi)
• Hungarian: elhajlás (hu), eltérés (hu)
• Italian: declinazione (it) f
• Persian: میل (fa) (meyl)
• Russian: склоне́ние (ru) n (sklonénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: deklinacija (sh) f
• Swedish: agnetisk deklination c, missvisning (sv) c
• Turkish: manyetik sapma, varyasyon (tr)

at a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane

• Arabic: مِيل m (mīl)
• Bulgarian: деклинация f (deklinacija)
• Dutch: declinatie (nl) f
• Finnish: deklinaatio (fi)
• French: déclinaison (fr) f
• German: Deklination (de) f
• Greek: απόκλιση (el) f (apóklisi)
• Hungarian: elhajlás (hu), eltérés (hu)
• Italian: declinazione (it) f
• Russian: склоне́ние (ru) n (sklonénije)
• Swedish: deklination (sv) c
• Turkish: deklinasyon (tr), dik açıklık (tr)

refusal — see also refusal

• Bulgarian: отказ (bg) m (otkaz)
• Greek: άρνηση (el) f (árnisi)
• Hungarian: elutasítás (hu), visszautasítás (hu)
• Polish: odmowa (pl) f

declension — see declension

Anagrams

• nonciliated