centripetal

centripetal
    adj 1: tending to move toward a center; "centripetal force"
           [ant: {centrifugal}]
    2: tending to unify [syn: {centripetal}, {unifying(a)}]
    3: of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing
       toward the central nervous system; "sensory neurons" [syn:
       {centripetal}, {receptive}, {sensory(a)}]
    

Centripetal \Cen*trip"e*tal\, a. [L. centrum center + petere to
   move toward.]
   1. Tending, or causing, to approach the center.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Bot.)
      (a) Expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and
          proceeding in order towards the summit.
      (b) Having the radicle turned toward the axis of the
          fruit, as some embryos.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. Progressing by changes from the exterior of a thing toward
      its center; as, the centripetal calcification of a bone.
      --R. Owen.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Centripetal force} (Mech.), a force whose direction is
      towards a center, as in case of a planet revolving round
      the sun, the center of the system, See {Centrifugal
      force}, under {Centrifugal}.

   {Centripetal impression} (Physiol.), an impression (sensory)
      transmitted by an afferent nerve from the exterior of the
      body inwards, to the central organ.
      [1913 Webster]
    

19 Moby Thesaurus words for "centripetal":
      approaching, asymptotic, centrolineal, concentrating, concurrent,
      confluent, confocal, connivent, consolidating, converging, focal,
      meeting, mutually approaching, radial, radiating, tangent,
      tangential, unifying, uniting