trajectorytra‧jec‧to‧ry /trəˈdʒektəri/ noun (plural trajectories) [countable] 
Word Origin
technical the curved path of an object that has been fired or thrown through the air2formal the events that happen during a period of time, which often lead to a particular aim or result: 
The decision was certain to affect the trajectory of French politics for some time to come.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINtrajectory
ExamplesOrigin:
1600-1700 Modern Latin trajectoria, from Latin trajectus, past participle of traicere ‘to cause to cross’, from trans- ( ➔ TRANS-) + jacere ‘to throw’EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
word sets- Even as the trajectory of his thought kept rising in the early seventies, the clock was ticking on his pet project.
- In 1873, however, one was found on a trajectory that brought it in to cross the orbit of Mars.
- Neither these, nor a variety of other types of household fit into the stereotypical trajectory through the life course.
- Scrubbing my mouth with my sleeve, I feel the Cathedral lurch beneath me, tilt towards a new trajectory.
- Simulation has been used to predict population changes over a long period of time and for charting space-satellite trajectories.
- The postwar family stories suggest that the family has continued in the same trajectory.
- The spectator is dropped into the picture, with its racing and contradictory trajectories, like Cary Grant into a Hitchcock plot.
- There is obviously a vast number of such possible trajectories.
WORD SETS► Physics
Collocationsaether, nounamplitude, nounantimatter, nounantiparticle, nounastrophysics, nounatom, nounatomic, adjectiveattract, verbattraction, nounballistics, nounbeam, nounblack hole, nounbuoyancy, nouncalorie, nouncalorific, adjectivecapillary action, nouncathode ray tube, nouncentre of gravity, nouncentrifugal force, nouncentrifuge, nouncentripetal force, nounchain reaction, nouncondensation, nounconduct, verbconduction, nounconductive, adjectiveconductor, nounconvect, verbconvection, nouncore, nouncritical mass, noundemagnetize, verbdense, adjectivedensity, noundisplacement, noundynamic, adjectiveelectron, nounelementary particle, nounfallout, nounfissile, adjectivefission, nounfocus, verbfrequency, nounfriction, nounfusion, noungamma ray, noungravitation, noungravitational, adjectivegravity, nounhalf-life, nounhertz, nounhydraulic, adjectiveHz, imaging, nounimpetus, nouninertia, nouninvariable, adjectiveion, nounionize, verbkinetic, adjectivelaser, nounlift, nounliquefaction, nounliquefy, verblodestone, nounmagnet, nounmagnetic, adjectivemagnetic field, nounmagnetism, nounmagnetize, verbmass, nounmechanical, adjectivemedium, nounmeltdown, nounmomentum, nounmotive, adjectivemushroom cloud, nounnatural philosophy, nounneutron, nounNewtonian, adjectivenuclear, adjectivenuclear fission, nounnuclear fusion, nounnuclear physics, nounnuclear reactor, nounnucleus, nounoptical fibre, nounparticle accelerator, nounparticle physics, nounphonic, adjectivephosphorescence, nounphosphorescent, adjectivephoto-, prefixphoton, nounphotosensitive, adjectivephotosensitize, verbphysical, adjectivephysicist, nounphysics, nounpivot, nounpolar, adjectivepole, nounpotential energy, nounpower, nounpressure, nounpropulsion, nounproton, nounpull, nounquantum mechanics, nounquantum theory, nounquark, nounradiate, verbradiation, nounradio wave, nounray, nounreaction, nounreactor, nounreflect, verbreflector, nounrefract, verbrelativity, nounrepel, verbrepulsion, nounrepulsive, adjectiveresilience, nounresilient, adjectiveresistance, nounresonance, nounretention, nounsolid-state, adjectivesonic, adjectivesonic boom, nounsound wave, nounspace, nounspecific gravity, nounspectral, adjectivespectroscope, nounspectrum, nounstatics, nounsteady state theory, nounstrain, nounstress, nounsurface tension, nountension, nounthermodynamics, nounthrust, nountraction, nountrajectory, nountransmit, verbultrasonic, adjectiveultrasound, nounvacuum, nounvaporize, verbvapour, nounvector, nounwave, nounwavelength, nounwork, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB► follow
1· A pitcher can spin a baseball to make it follow a trajectory in any direction.· But some of Britain's leading socialists were ready to follow a similar trajectory.· Most near-Earth asteroids follow trajectories that are much better suited to the needs of belt-bound Earthlings.· This section follows the trajectory of an arc in that the attempts gradually fail.
technical the curved path of an object that has been fired or thrown through the air2formal the events that happen during a period of time, which often lead to a particular aim or result: The decision was certain to affect the trajectory of French politics for some time to come.