noun
- plural of deferent; in ancient astronomy, large circles in which the centers of epicycles were thought to move around the Earth
Usage: astronomy; historical
Examples
- Ancient astronomers used deferents and epicycles to explain planetary motion.
- Ptolemy’s model included multiple deferents to account for celestial movements.
- The concept of deferents was central to geocentric astronomical theory.
- Medieval scholars studied the deferents described in classical texts.
- Copernicus’s heliocentric model eliminated the need for complex deferents.