Tropic Meaning
/ˈtɹɒpɪk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounEither of the two parallels of latitude 23°26′ north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics.
nounThe component of tone or rhetoric in a sentence.
Sentence Examples
Earth's equator is parallel to the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.
The Tropic of Capricorn is in the Southern Hemisphere.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ is known for its year-round warm climate and dense rainforests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of Cancer is a major line of latitude that marks the northernmost point where the sun is directly overhead today.
Word Origin & History
From Late Latin tropicus (“of or pertaining to the solstice, as a noun, one of the tropics”), from Ancient Greek τροπικός (tropikós, “of or pertaining to a turn or change; or the solstice; or a trope or figure; tropic; tropical; etc.”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “turn; solstice; trope”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O conſider my caſe, moſt blisfull Queen, […] Diſpell thoſe Clouds which hover 'twixt my King and his higheſt Counſell, […] that my great Law-making Court be forced to turn no more to polemicall Committees, […] but that they may come again to the old Parliamentary Rode, To the path of their Predeceſſours, to conſult of means how to ſweep away thoſe Cobwebs that hang in the Courts of Juſtice, and to make the Laws run in their right Channell; to retrench exceſſive fees, and finde remedies for the future, that the poor Client be not ſo peeled by his Lawyer, and made to ſuffer by ſuch monſtrous delays, that one may go from one Tropick to the other, and croſſe the Equinoctiall twenty times, before his ſute be done; […]"
— 1645, James Howell, “England’s Tears, for the Present Wars, which for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of the Strength, the Diversity of Battels, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, (Happened in so Short a Compasse of Time) Cannot be Parallel’d in Any Precedent Age”, in ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]: Dodona’s Grove, or The Vocall Forrest. The Third Edition More Exact and Perfect than the Former; with the Addition of Two Other Tracts: viz. Englands Tears for the Present Wars. And The Pre-eminence of Parlements, 3rd edition, Cambridge: Printed by R. D. for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the Prince's Arms in S. Pauls Church-yard, →OCLC, page 189:
"This process of tropic change, once identified in nostalgia poems, can be applied to a range of new and emerging genres in various periods. Identifying the tropes of nostalgia, in other words, allows us to appreciate the process[…]"
— 2006, Aaron Santesso, A Careful Longing: The Poetics and Problems of Nostalgia, University of Delaware Press, →ISBN, page 12:
"Tropes may also interact with other tropes: a trope (for example, a metonymic association) may become an element in a different trope (for instance, a metaphor), and thus undergo a transformation of its tropic identity."
— 2006 October 27, Jens Kreinath, J.A.M. Snoek, Michael Stausberg, Theorizing Rituals, Volume 1: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts, BRILL, →ISBN, page 702:
"As these examples indicate, the functioning of ritual symbols as “pivots” for the projection of efficacy between frames involves the use of symbols as tropes. The tropic uses of symbols in ritual specify the aspects of their range of[…]"
— 2021 January 14, Marko Živković, Jamin Pelkey, James W. Fernandez, Tropological Thought and Action: Essays on the Poetics of Imagination, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 300:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ is known for its year-round warm climate and dense rainforests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ of Cancer is a major line of latitude that marks the northernmost point where the sun is directly overhead today.