North Meaning

/nɔːθ/
A2

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

nounThe direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.

nounThe up or positive direction.

The cold north wind was roaring outside.
We went due north.
The party campaigned vigorously in the north of the country.
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The compass needle always points toward the magnetic ____ pole.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
If you keep walking ____, you will eventually reach the edge of the forest.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nér Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *nŕ̥t(e)ros Proto-Germanic *nurþraz Proto-West Germanic *norþr Old English norþ Middle English north English north From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic *norþr, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" or from "left side of someone who turns to the east when praying". Cognates Cognate with various Germanic counterparts such as Yola noardth, nordh (“north”), North Frisian noor, nord, nuurd, Nuurđ (“north”), Saterland Frisian Noude, Nudde (“north”), West Frisian noard (“north”), Dutch noord (“north”), German Nord (“north”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk nord (“north”), Faroese and Icelandic norður (“north”), Swedish nord, norr (“north”); also with Ancient Greek νέρτερος (nérteros), ἐνέρτερος (enérteros, “below”), Russian нора (nora, “hole”), Lithuanian nėrõvė (“mermaid, nymph”), Oscan 𐌍𐌄𐌓𐌕𐌓𐌀𐌊 (nertrak, “left”), Umbrian nertru (“left”), Sanskrit नरक (naraka, “hell”), Tocharian B ñor (“below”).

"[…] and after independence the north clung to sugar production longer than the south, with the result that when the north took […]" — 2002, Mats Lundahl, Politics or Markets?: Essays on Haitian Underdevelopment, Routledge, →ISBN:
"If candidates stand on the liturgical south facing the presider and liturgical assistants on the liturgical north, it will present better visual lines for the congregation than if they stand facing east and west with their backs toward the congregation." — 1998, Leonel L. Mitchell, Pastoral and Occasional Liturgies: A Ceremonial Guide, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 49:
"Many early Christian basilicas were designed with twin ambos for the proclamation of the epistle (on the liturgical south side) and the Gospel (on the north). The separation of the ambos indicated the distinction that should be accorded the Gospel, which was proclaimed from the north as if evangelization needed to happen to the geographically southern part of the world." — 2011, Paul Turner, At the Supper of the Lamb: A Pastoral and Theological Commentary on the Mass, LiturgyTrainingPublications, →ISBN, page 27:
"At St. Andrew's, ecclesiastical north, south, east, and west correspond to geographical northeast, southwest, southeast, and northwest." — 2014, Paul Porwoll, Against All Odds: History of Saint Andrew's Parish Church, Charleston, 1706-2013, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 365:
"The new St Mary's Anglican Church, Walkerville, has an attached rectory flanking to the liturgical south and an attached parish hall flanking to the liturgical north, both half-timbered in the Tudor Revival style. [Referring to a church that is oriented SSE, making "south" WSW]" — 2017, Cameron Macdonell, Ghost Storeys: Ralph Adams Cram, Modern Gothic Media, and Deconstructive Microhistory at a Canadian Church, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, →ISBN:

Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
The compass needle always points toward the magnetic ____ pole.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
If you keep walking ____, you will eventually reach the edge of the forest.

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