latitude
pronunciation
How to pronounce latitude in British English:
UK [ˈlætɪtjuːd]
How to pronounce latitude in American English:
US [ˈlætɪtuːd]
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- Noun:
- the angular distance between an imaginary line around a heavenly body parallel to its equator and the equator itself
- freedom from normal restraints in conduct
- an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator
- scope for freedom of e.g. action or thought; freedom from restriction
Word Origin
- latitude
- latitude: [14] Latin lātus meant ‘broad’. From it were derived dīlātāre ‘spread out’ (source of English dilate) and lātitūdō, which English took over as latitude. Its use as a cartographical term stems from the oblong maps of the ancient world, in which distance from north to south represented ‘breadth’ (hence latitude), and distance from east to west represented ‘length’ (hence longitude [16], from Latin longitūdō, a derivative of longus ‘long’).=> dilate
- latitude (n.)
- late 14c., "breadth," from Old French latitude (13c.) and directly from Latin latitudo "breadth, width, extent, size," from latus "wide," from PIE root *stele- "to spread" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic steljo "to spread out," Armenian lain "broad"). Geographical sense also is from late 14c., literally "breadth" of a map of the known world. Figurative sense of "allowable degree of variation" is early 15c. Related: Latitudinal.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Sunlight and latitude at birth may affect menopause later in life .
- 2. According to local officials , penglai is on roughly the same latitude as bordeaux .
- 3. One unsolved mystery is why all this ought to have some correlation with latitude .
- 4. They also worked out that the latitude of this wind is related to the sunspot cycle .
- 5. Like liberal jewish and christian scholars in recent decades , some muslim thinkers are now finding theological latitude .