Make Your Point > Archived Issues > APHELION

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pronounce APHELION: Say it "uh FEE lee un." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: I have, perhaps, an exorbitant interest in celestial metaphors like these:    To have ecc______ities is to have weird habits, as if orbiting off-center.    To be m_____ic is to be amazing, but then fizzle out, like a shooting star.    And to reach aphelion is to go as far away as possible, as if reaching the furthest point of orbit. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: Our word "aphelion" has Greek roots that literally mean "away from the sun." That's why it looks a bit like other words involving the sun, like "helium," "heliotrope," "heliolatry (worship of the sun)," and "heliophobia (dread of sunlight)." When a planet or comet is at aphelion, or when it reaches aphelion, it's at the point as far away from the sun as it possibly gets. Check this out, from timeanddate.com. Notice how we're at aphelion in July: (If, like me, you're frowning at the fact that we have our hottest weather when we're furthest from the sun, notice in the diagram how we're titled toward the sun in July, and tilted away in January. Read more here.) Anyway, aphelion is the furthest point away from something. So, figuratively speaking, when something is at aphelion, it's at the point where it's as far away from something else as it's ever gotten. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun. Often the uncountable kind: "It's at aphelion;" "It's reached aphelion."  Sometimes the countable kind: "That was the aphelion of it;" "It reached the aphelion;" "Can you map the aphelia of these planets?" Other forms:  The plural noun is "aphelia." There's an adjective, but it's very rare, and the spelling is confusing: "aphelian," as in "Here's Earth's aphelian distance." The exact opposite of "aphelion" is "perihelion," the point of orbit closest to the sun. The roots inside "perihelion" literally mean "near the sun." how to use it: Most of the time, we use the word "aphelion" (and its precise opposite, "perihelion") in a literal way, talking about planets (and sometimes comets) and where they are in relation to the sun. We say that a planet is "at its aphelion," or just "at aphelion"--or "approaching aphelion," "reaching aphelion," "leaving aphelion," or "in aphelion." But if you'd like to get figurative with "aphelion," go for it! It'll sound fresh and scientific. You'll be comparing something to a planet or a comet, hinting that it revolves around some grand, sun-like thing: "The dark aphelion of the eccentric orbit in which the church of Christ had wandered" (Henry Rogers). examples: "Earth reaches aphelion July 3, the most distant spot on its imperfect, annual orbit around the sun."    — Blaine P. Friedlander Jr., Washington Post, 1 July 2017 "France... is just now in what astronomers call the aphelion or furthest point of political cold."    — Thomas Perronet Thompson, Audi Alteram Partem: Letters of a Representative to his Constituents, 1858 has this page helped you understand "aphelion"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "aphelion" without saying "farthest point away" or "greatest distance away." try it out: Talk about a time you were in aphelion: a time you were as distant as you've ever been from some central "sun" in your life, like your core family, your core group of friends, your significant other, or your religion or philosophy. How did you recognize that you had wandered so far? Did you ever break entirely out of orbit? Why or why not? If you prefer not to talk about yourself, try talking about a fictional character or a public figure being in his or her aphelion. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for January is "Find the Missing Link." In each chain of words, find the one that's missing from the middle. This missing link, according to a thesaurus, is a synonym of each word on its left and right. But as you'll see, the words on the left and right are most definitely not synonyms!  For example, if I give you "special → _____ → typical," then you answer, "peculiar," because sometimes "peculiar" means "special, different, odd," but other times it means "typical of this, specific to this, distinctively this."  To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Your answer might be different from mine but just as good. Enjoy! Try this one today: complicated → _____ → unusual review this word: 1. The exact opposite of APHELION is PERIHELION. But, a pretty close opposite of APHELION is A. NEAREST POINT. B. CENTRAL POINT. C. DISTANT POINT. 2. In a novel, Jean Paul Friedrich Richter wrote, "Victor did not steal in, till the overture announced to him the seats and the seating of the company: in the remotest arbor, in a true aphelion, this _____ took its place." A. tree B. light C. comet Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. C Answer to the game question: complicated → fancy → unusual. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.