longitude
part of speech
noun (longitude, longitudes)
meaning for a pupil
1) (geography) The distance east or west of an imaginary line through Greenwich, London, measured in degrees from 0° to 180°. tree →
2) Lines of longitude: imaginary lines on a map or globe going from the North Pole to the South Pole. tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography and maps: longitude and latitude give a place's exact position (coordinates). Longitude is linked to time zones — every 15° is about one hour of time. Phrases: «lines of longitude», «latitude and longitude», «degrees of longitude».
examples
- Lines of longitude run from pole to pole. tree →
- Greenwich is at 0° longitude. tree →
- Find the latitude and longitude of your town. tree →
- London and Accra are at almost the same longitude. tree →
- Sailors used clocks to work out longitude at sea. tree →
- Each 15° of longitude is about one hour's time difference. tree →
note
Uncountable (sometimes «longitudes»). Trap: latitude = lines going ACROSS (east-west), measuring north-south; longitude = LONG lines from pole to pole, measuring east-west. Pronounced «LON-ji-tude» (UK also «LONG-gi-tude»). Lines of longitude are also called meridians. In maths: 360° ÷ 24 hours = 15° per hour.
In the corpora
- Latitude tells how far north or south a place is; longitude tells how far east or west.
- John Harrison built clocks in the 1700s accurate enough to find longitude at sea.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «longitude» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.