What does centrifugal mean?
Centrifugal describes anything that moves away from — or seems to be pushed away from — a centre. Its most familiar use is in physics, where centrifugal force names the apparent outward push felt by an object travelling in a circle: passengers lurch outwards as a car turns, and water is flung from wet clothes in a spin dryer. Engineers rely on the principle in countless devices, from pumps and clutches to governors that regulate engine speed. Beyond the laboratory, centrifugal works powerfully as a metaphor: historians and political scientists speak of centrifugal forces tearing empires apart, pulling regions toward independence, or driving members of a group away from a shared centre. It pairs naturally with its opposite, centripetal, which denotes motion toward a centre. Coined from Latin roots meaning 'fleeing the centre', the word entered English in the seventeenth century and remains a precise, vivid term wherever things scatter outward rather than converge.
Moving or tending to move away from a centre; relating to the apparent outward force on a body in circular motion.
"A centrifugal governor regulates the engine's speed by responding to rotational motion."
Short for centrifuge: a machine that spins samples rapidly to separate components by density.
"The lab technician loaded the blood samples into the centrifugal."
This nominal use is informal and much less common than simply saying 'centrifuge'.
Rarely used; when referring to multiple machines, 'centrifuges' is strongly preferred over the plural of this noun form.
"The laboratory was equipped with several high-speed centrifugals for processing cane juice."
In physics, centrifugal 'force' isn't really a force at all — it's your body's stubborn inertia resisting a turn, which is why Newtonian purists call it a fictitious or pseudo-force.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of centrifugal
Centrifugal comes from modern Latin centrifugus, formed from Latin centrum ('centre') plus fugere ('to flee'), so literally 'fleeing the centre'. The word entered English in the early seventeenth century, around the time Newtonian mechanics was formalising ideas of circular motion. It shares its root with words built on centrum such as centripetal, concentric, and eccentric, all describing positions or motions relative to a centre.
Related word forms
How centrifugal is actually used
Most common in technical and scientific contexts (physics, engineering); in figurative use it often appears in political or sociological writing to describe forces pulling groups away from unity. The adjective form is standard in both British and American English.
Easily confused with centrifugal
Centrifugal means moving away from a centre, while centripetal means directed towards a centre.