latitude

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈlæt.ɪ.tjuːd/, SAMPA: /"l{t.I.tju:d/
• (US) IPA: /ˈlæt.ɪ.tud/, /ˈlæt.ə.tjud/, SAMPA: /"l{t.I.tud/, /"l{t.@.tjud/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Wikipedia latitude (plural latitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy) The angular distance north or south from a planet's equator, measured along the meridian of that particular point.
2. (geography) An imaginary line (in fact a circle) around a planet running parallel to the planet's equator.
3. The relative freedom from restrictions: his parents gave hime a great deal of latitude, scope for freedom of action, thought, etc, as in common sense.
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.
   • Wikipedia article on exposure latitude
6. Extent or scope; e.g. breadth, width or amplitude.

Usage notes

• 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.

Derived terms

• ascending latitude
• circle of latitude
• geographical latitude
• high latitude
• low latitude

Translations

angular distance north or south from the equator

Catalan: latitud (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 纬度 (zh) (wěidù), 緯度 (zh) Esperanto: latitudo (eo) Finnish: leveysaste, pohjoinen leveys, eteläinen leveys French: latitude (fr) f. German: Breite (de) f. Ido: latitudo (io) Italian: latitudine (it) f.

Latin: lātitūdō (la) f. Macedonian: географска ширина (mk) (geográfska šírina) f. Manx: dowan-lheead (gv) Polish: szerokość geograficzna (pl) f. Portuguese: latitude (pt) f. Russian: широта (ru) (širotá) f. Scottish Gaelic: domhan-leud (gd) m. Spanish: latitud (es) f. Swedish: latitud (sv) c., breddgrad (sv) c.

imaginary line parallel to the equator

Catalan: latitud (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 纬线 (zh) (wěixiàn), 緯綫 (zh) Esperanto: latitudo (eo) Finnish: leveyspiiri (fi) French: latitude (fr) f. Greek: γεωγραφικό πλάτος (el) (geografiko platos) n. Ido: latitudo (io) Italian: latitudine (it) f. Latin: lātitūdō (la) f.

Macedonian: напоредник (mk) (napórednik) m., паралела (mk) (paraléla) f. Malay: garis lintang (ms) Manx: dowan-lheead (gv) Polish: równoleżnik (pl) m. Portuguese: latitude (pt) f. Russian: параллель (ru) (parallél') f. Scottish Gaelic: domhan-leud (gd) m. Spanish: latitud (es) f. Swedish: latitud (sv) c.

freedom from restrictions

Bosnian: sloboda (bs) f. Finnish: vapaus, toimintavapaus Greek: χαλαρότητα (el) (chalarotita) f.

Hungarian: mozgástér (hu) Polish: swoboda (pl)

angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic

Finnish: deklinaatio (fi)

extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over- or underexposed

extent or scope

Bosnian: opseg (bs) m. Finnish: laajuus (fi)

Latin: lātitūdō (la) f. Scottish Gaelic: leud (gd) m.

See also

• longitude
• zonal

Anagrams

• altitude