Centrifugally

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner characterized by motion directing away from a central point
2. Describing an action resulting from forces that push outward from the center
3. Describes movement or force directed outward from a central axis or point

Etymology: "Centrifugally" is a straightforward formation: the adjective "centrifugal" with the adverb-forming suffix "-ly" added to it. The adjective itself is a modern scientific coinage built from classical building blocks. "Centrifugal" combines the Latin "centrum," meaning "centre," with "fugere," meaning "to flee," so the core idea is literally "fleeing from the centre." It was built in the same spirit as "centripetal," its opposite, which points toward the centre. The "-ly" ending has a much longer past. It descends from an old Germanic suffix meaning "having the form or appearance of," which passed through Proto-Germanic and Old English as "-līce" before shrinking to the "-ly" we use today. Its ancestry goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "body" or "form," so an adverb ending in "-ly" carries an ancient sense of shape or manner. Put together, "centrifugally" describes doing something in the manner of a thing moving outward from its middle, such as a spinning object flinging material away from its axis.