Phrase guide

centre of mass

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A point, near, or within a body at which the object's mass can be assumed to be concentrated; it coincides with the centroid for a body of uniform density, and with the centre of gravity in a uniform gravitational field.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, UK

Topics: mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: center of gravity, centre of inertia, COM

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

point representing the mean position of the matter in a body

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: center of mass

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: center, centre, midpoint

Narrower terms: center of buoyancy, centre of buoyancy, center of immersion, centre of immersion, barycenter, centroid

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 質心 /质心 (zhìxīn) — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Czech: těžiště — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Danish: massemidtpunkt — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Finnish: massakeskipiste — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • French: centre de masse — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • German: Massenmittelpunkt — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • German: Gewichtsschwerpunkt — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • German: Schwerpunkt — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Hungarian: tömegközéppont — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Indonesian: titik berat — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Italian: baricentro — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Korean: 질량중심 (jillyangjungsim) — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Malayalam: പിണ്ഡകേന്ദ്രം (piṇḍakēndraṁ) — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Polish: barycentrum — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Polish: środek ciężkości — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Romanian: centru de masă — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Russian: центр масс — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Russian: центр ине́рции (centr inɛ́rcii) — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Russian: барице́нтр (baricéntr) — point where the mass can be considered concentrated
  • Swedish: masscentrum — point where the mass can be considered concentrated