latitude

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French latitude, from Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.ɪ.tjuːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.ɪ.tud/, /ˈlæt.ə.tjud/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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latitude (countable and uncountable, plural latitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy, countable) The angular distance north or south from a planet's equator, measured along the meridian of that particular point.

   Coordinate term: longitude

   • 1880, Arthur Herbert Church, Food: Some Account of Its Sources, Constituents and Uses‎, London: Chapman and Hall, page 72:

     The oat is hardier than wheat, and ripens in higher latitudes.

   • 2011, Ralph D. Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare‎, Basic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 137:

     Far from the center of Shang civilization, Wu-ch'eng is located well south of the Yangtze at approximately the same latitude as Ch'ang-sha in the west and Wen-chou in the east.

2. (geography) An imaginary line (in the form of a circumference) around a planet running parallel to the planet's equator.

   Synonym: parallel

3. (figurative) The relative freedom from restrictions; scope to do something.

   His parents gave him a great deal of latitude.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 208:

     "Love!" ejaculated the Comtesse; "And so throw away the chances of a life upon a month of honey!—I say a month, which is allowing a latitude tenderness never took...

4. (astronomy) The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic.
5. (photography) The extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over- or underexposed and still achieve an acceptable result.
6. Extent or scope; e.g. breadth, width or amplitude.

• When used to refer to distances or imaginary lines around a planet, latitude is relative to the Earth's Equator unless another planet is specified.

• ascending latitude
• geolatitude
• high latitude
• low latitude

• high-latitude
• isolatitude
• latitude by account
• low-latitude
• mid-latitude, middle latitude

• circle of latitude
• horse latitudes

• northing
• zonal

• altitude

From Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus.

• IPA^(key): /la.ti.tyd/

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latitude f (plural latitudes)

1. expansion, breadth

   Ce principe peut avoir une grande latitude.

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   Donner trop de latitude à une proposition, à l’application d’un principe.

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   Laisser beaucoup de latitude aux agents chargés d’une mission.

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   Avoir toute latitude pour: avoir toute liberté pour.

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2. (geography) the distance from a place to the equator measured in degrees on the meridian; parallel viewing
   • 1921, H.G. Wells, translated by Henry-D. Davray and B. Kozakiewicz, La Guerre dans les Airs, Mercure de France, page 174:

     C’est ici que ça se passe, 30°50’ de latitude nord, 30°50’ de longitude ouest… à une journée de distance pour nous, et ils filent sud-sud-ouest à toute vapeur. À ce train-là nous ne verrons rien, […].

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1928, Jean-Baptiste Charcot, Dans la mer du Groenland:

     Le Scoresby Sund est le plus vaste fjord du monde entier. Il est découpé dans la côte Orientale du Groenland entre 70° et 72° de latitude Nord et 22° et 30° de longitude Ouest de Greenwich.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1929, Alain Gerbault, “À la poursuite du soleil”, in De New-York à Tahiti, volume 1:

     […] le 12 mars, par 20 degrés de latitude Nord, je rencontrai les vents alizés, je pouvais compter dorénavant sur un plus faible et agréable navigation dans les mers tropicales.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (by extension) Different areas under a given temperature due to their greater or lesser distance from the equator

   À la différence des animaux, l’homme peut vivre sous les latitudes les plus opposées.

4. (astronomy) the angle with a plane parallel to the ecliptic, the straight line that passes through a heavenly body and a particular centre on this plane

   Latitude australe ou boréale.

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   Latitude héliocentrique, géocentrique, etc.

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   Latitude de Sirius.

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5. freedom

• longitude

• All or part of this article is from the Dictionary of the French Academy, Eighth Edition, 1932-1935, but it may have been modified since.

• “latitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”).

latitude oblique singular, f (oblique plural latitudes, nominative singular latitude, nominative plural latitudes)

1. breadth

• → Middle English: latitude
• French: latitude

• Hyphenation: la‧ti‧tu‧de

latitude f (plural latitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy) latitude (angular distance north or south from the equator)
2. (geography) latitude (imaginary line parallel to the equator)