meridian

CEFRB2

/məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/

noun

Türkçe translations

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In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An imaginary line running from the North Pole to the South Pole.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    In full terrestrial meridian: a great circle on the Earth's surface, passing through the geographic poles (the terrestrial North Pole and South Pole); also, half of such a circle extending from pole to pole, all points of which have the same longitude.

Examples

  • Japan is on the 135th meridian East.

  • The moon does not cross the meridian today.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /məˈɹɪ.di.ən/
  • /mɪ-/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.

  2. In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface.

  3. The highest or most developed point, or most splendid stage, of something; culmination, peak, zenith.

More examples

In context

  • Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan.

  • Call to mind thy dream, / An earthly globe, / On whoſe meridian was engraven, / Theſe ſeas are tears, and heav'n the haven.

  • This was the moment at which the fortunes of Montague reached the meridian. The decline was close at hand.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The sun was directly overhead, crossing the blank at exactly noon.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

English meridian The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (“midday; the south; terrestrial meridian; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) (modern French méridien), and Old French meridiane, meridiiene, and from their etymon Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”), a noun use of the neuter form of merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”); see further at etymology 1. Sense 1.1 (“celestial meridian”) is ultimately modelled after Latin merīdiāna līnea (“mer...