Cen-trĭp'e-tal, a.
a. [From Lat. centrum, center, and petere, to move toward; Fr. centripète.]
Sense 1. Tending toward the center.
Sense 2. (Bot.) (a.) Expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and later at the summit, as a flower. Lindley. (b.) Having the radicle turned toward the axis of the fruit, as some embryos. Gray.
Sense 3. Progressing by changes from the exterior of a thing toward its center; as, the centripetal calcification of a bone. R. Owen.
Centripetal force (Math.), that force which draws or impels a body toward some point as a center; as in case of a planet revolving round the sun, the center of the system.