zero gravity, n. & adj.

zero-gravity
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-gravity_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero gravitynoun & adjective

## Factsheet

### What does the word zero gravity mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zero gravity. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the word zero gravity?

About 0.08occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.047
1950 | 0.056
1960 | 0.059
1970 | 0.062
1980 | 0.074
1990 | 0.08
2000 | 0.08
2010 | 0.083

### Where does the word zero gravity come from?

Earliest known use

1910s

The earliest known use of the word zero gravity is in the 1910s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero gravity is from 1915, in Science.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-defect, adj. 1964–
2. zero derivation, n. 1960–
3. zero derivative, adj. & n. 1948–
4. zero-derived, adj. 1971–
5. zero-dimensional, adj. 1880–
6. zero-emission, n. & adj. 1952–
7. zero-energy, adj. 1947–
8. zero-field, adj. 1915–
9. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
10. zero grade, n. 1888–
11. zero gravity, n. & adj.1915–
12. zero-graze, v. 1954–
13. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
14. zero grazing, n. 1954–
15. zero growth, n. 1907–
16. zero hour, n. 1915–
17. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
18. zeroing, n. 1906–
19. zeroize, v. 1894–
20. zero-length, adj. 1945–
21. zero-line, n. 1834–

## Meaning & use

1. 1915–
   a. n. The state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because both the body and its surroundings are freely and equally accelerating under gravity = weightlessness n.; b. adj. possessing or characterized by zero gravity; designed for use in zero gravity; occurring in zero gravity.
   Abbreviated zero-G.
   1. 1915

      > If a man should be placed, in imagination, at the ‘point of zero gravity’ between the earth and the moon, it is not at all obvious how he would proceed to measure a given mass with a beam-balance.

      Science 5 February 208/2
   2. 1951

      > I'll take you into the zero-gravity section and see how you manage there.

      A. C. Clarke, Sands of Mars i. 5
   3. 1968

      > Astronauts of the future will probably have to build vehicles in space. This will entail joining different metals together under zero-gravity conditions.

      New Scientist 12 September 545/1
   4. 1984

      > Two of the first drugs that will be produced in zero gravity in mass quantities are beta cells..and interferon.

      News (Mexico City) 12 March 22/4
   5. 1997

      > Mention the orbiting Russian space station [sc. Mir], and people..will talk eagerly about zero-gravity toilets.

      Independent (Nexis) 19 August 13
   6. 2015

      > In between rungs, you reach a moment of zero gravity where your body is almost weightless.

      Esquire September 58/2
   physical sciences
   1. zero gravity 1915–
      a. n. The state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because…
   2. zero-G 1950–
      a. adj.= zero gravity, n. (b); b. n. = zero gravity, n. (a).
   3. null-G 1953–
      = null-grav, adj.
   4. null-grav 1957–
      a. adj. (attributive) relating to, producing, or designed for a condition of zero gravity; b. n. = zero gravity, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zero gravity 1915–
      a. n. The state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because…
   2. zero-G 1950–
      a. adj.= zero gravity, n. (b); b. n. = zero gravity, n. (a).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero gravity typically occurs about 0.08 times per million words in modern written English.

zero gravity is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zero gravity, n. & adj., 1940–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1940 | 0.047
1950 | 0.056
1960 | 0.059
1970 | 0.062
1980 | 0.074
1990 | 0.08
2000 | 0.08
2010 | 0.083

### Frequency of zero gravity, n. & adj., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.21
2018 | 0.2
2019 | 0.23
2020 | 0.24
2021 | 0.23
2022 | 0.22
2023 | 0.23
2024 | 0.2

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.