libration

From Latin lībrātiō (“a hurling, swinging”), from lībrō (“poise, cause to swing”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /laɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

libration (countable and uncountable, plural librations)

1. The act of librating.
2. (astronomy) The apparent wobble or variation in the visible side of the Moon that permanently faces the Earth, allowing observers on Earth to see, over a period of time, slightly more than half of the lunar surface.
3. (by extension) A similar rotational or orbital characteristic of some other celestial body.
4. (dynamics) The oscillation of an angle about a stable equilibrium point.^[1]
5. (chemistry) A vibrational degree of freedom whereby a group of atoms partly rotates back and forth, similar to the Moon's motion.
6. (figuratively) A wavering between two opposing thoughts or choices.
   • 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 175:

     We may not quarrel with attempts to picture the libration of emotion which sways Clytaemestra as she veers from love for her husband to the desire to take vengeance upon him […]

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libration f (plural librations)

1. libration

• point de libration

• “libration”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012