globular

English

Etymology

From French globulaire or Medieval Latin globulāris.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɒbjʊlə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɑbjəlɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

globular (comparative more globular, superlative most globular)

1. Roughly spherical in shape; globe-shaped.
   • 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “A Cosmopolite in a Café”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 33:

     "Nary a spot," interrupted E. R. Coglan, flippantly. "The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, slightly flattened at the poles, and known as the Earth, is my abode. […]"

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XV, in Age of Consent, London: T[homas] Werner Laurie […], →OCLC, page 152:

     Podson's globular stare assured any woman that the bargain was sacred. It was solemn, intent, opaque; it was also slightly mesmeric, which is to say that it gave out everything and took in nothing.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 1, in Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, part 1: Beyond the Zero, page 4:

     Globular lights, painted a dark green, hang from under the fancy iron eaves, unlit for centuries . . .

2. Comprising globules.

Derived terms

• endoglobular
• globularism
• globularist
• globularity
• globular lightning
• globularly
• globularness
• interglobular
• microglobular
• nonglobular
• periglobular
• postglobular
• preglobular
• semiglobular
• subglobular
• unglobular
• uniglobular

Related terms

• globe
• globose
• globous
• globule

Translations

roughly spherical

• Armenian: գնդաձեւ (hy) (gndajew)
• Bengali: বর্তুলাকার (bn) (bortulakar)
• Bulgarian: сферичен (bg) (sferičen), кълбовиден (bg) (kălboviden)
• Catalan: globular
• French: globulaire (fr)
• Hindi: गोलाकार (hi) (golākār)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gogî (ku)

• Latin: globōsus
• Māori: kōpio
• Polish: kulisty (pl)
• Portuguese: globular, globuloso
• Russian: шаровидный (ru) (šarovidnyj), сферический (ru) (sferičeskij)
• Swedish: klotformig (sv)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: یومرو (yumru), طوپاق (topak)

Noun

globular (plural globulars)

1. (astronomy) A globular cluster

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ɡlo.buˈlaʁ/ [ɡlo.buˈlah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ɡlo.buˈlaʁ/ [ɡlo.buˈlah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ɡlo.buˈlaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ɡlo.buˈlaʁ/ [ɡlo.buˈlaχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ɡlo.buˈlaɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɡlu.buˈlaɾ/ [ɡlu.βuˈlaɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɡlu.buˈlaɾ/ [ɡlu.βuˈlaɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɡlu.buˈla.ɾi/

Adjective

globular m or f (plural globulares)

1. spherical; globular

   Synonym: esférico

Further reading

• “globular”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “globular”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin globus

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-e-lós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -ulus

Latin globuluslbor.

French globule

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin -ārisslbor.

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusslbor.

French -aire

French globulairebor.

Romanian globular

Borrowed from French globulaire.

Adjective

globular m or n (feminine singular globulară, masculine plural globulari, feminine/neuter plural globulare)

1. globular

Declension

Declension of globular

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	globular		globulară	globulari	globulare
	definite	globularul		globulara	globularii	globularele
genitive- dative	indefinite	globular		globulare	globulari	globulare
	definite	globularului		globularei	globularilor	globularelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlobuˈlaɾ/ [ɡlo.β̞uˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: glo‧bu‧lar

Adjective

globular m or f (masculine and feminine plural globulares)

1. globular

Related terms

• glóbulo

Further reading

• “globular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026