magnetic needle

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Finding the magnetoreceptors responsible for triggering these neurons has been like looking for a magnetic needle in a haystack.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 23, 2016

Last week Bendix Aviation Corp. announced a new automatic compass that makes the old magnetic needle* look as obsolete as a warrior's spear.

From Time Magazine Archive

He said: "Nothing must deflect the magnetic needle."

From Time Magazine Archive

Galvanometer, a coil of wire around a magnetic needle for measuring the strength of an electric current—Schweigger, Germany, 1820.

From The Story of Great Inventions by Burns, Elmer Ellsworth

At the centre of the coils is suspended a small magnetic needle the length of which should not be greater than 1⁄10 the radius of either coil.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various