From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcentripetal forcecen‧trip‧e‧tal force /senˌtrɪpətl ˈfɔːs $ -ˈfɔːrs/ noun [uncountable] HP technical a force which makes things move towards the centre of something when they are moving around it
Examples from the Corpus
centripetal force• Its role is to serve as a centripetal force against the centrifugal tendencies of the ministries.• But a rotating craft exerts Coriolis forces, which work in a different direction from a centripetal force.• Momentum is mass times velocity, so both factors influence the size of centripetal force.• Of course, the required centripetal force also decreases as we make the radius of the circle bigger.• Technically it is not really the boots that are providing the centripetal force.• At this distance the force of gravity provided by the planet is equal to the centripetal force required.• The centripetal force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the centre.Origin centripetal force (1700-1800) Modern Latin centripetus, from centr- “center” + Latin petere “to go to, try to find” 