bathysphere

noun

bathy·​sphere ˈba-thi-ˌsfir How to pronounce bathysphere (audio)
: a strongly built steel diving sphere for deep-sea observation

Examples of bathysphere in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In 1932, American naturalist William Beebe set out to explore this ecosystem in a vessel known as a bathysphere (a steel ball suspended from a research ship like a pendulum). WIRED, 9 Dec. 2023 He was seated in the bathysphere, a submersible steel ball equipped with oxygen tanks and small quartz windows, alongside the device’s inventor, Otis Barton. Benjamin Shull, WSJ, 2 July 2023 Otis Barton and William Beebe with the bathysphere in 1934. Benjamin Shull, WSJ, 2 July 2023 The first bathysphere made its initial descent off an island in Bermuda on June 6, 1930, lowered into the Atlantic Ocean by a shipboard winch. Amy Brady, Scientific American, 20 June 2023 The winchmen dropped the bathysphere back on board and unscrewed the bolts to release the skinny men into the afternoon sun. Brad Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2023 The bathysphere would be the first submersible to bring humans down into the deep ocean. Brad Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2023 New visitations of aliens land in former Minneapolis, initiate dune-buggy-and-bathysphere tours of important sites in career of Prince. Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2019 Last weekend, while the police in Moscow forcibly rounded up more than 1,000 anti-Kremlin protesters, the largest such mass detention in years, President Vladimir V. Putin was out on the Baltic Sea, sinking beneath the waves in a bathysphere. New York Times, 2 Aug. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bathysphere.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

bathy- + sphere entry 1

First Known Use

1930, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bathysphere was in 1930

Dictionary Entries Near bathysphere

Cite this Entry

“Bathysphere.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bathysphere. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bathysphere

noun
bathy·​sphere ˈbath-i-ˌsfi(ə)r How to pronounce bathysphere (audio)
: a strongly built steel ball in which a person can dive to great depth for deep-sea observation

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