compass

American  

[kuhm-puhs] / ˈkʌm pəs /

noun

• compasses
  plural

1. an instrument for determining directions, as by means of a freely rotating magnetized needle that indicates magnetic north.

2. the enclosing line or limits of any area; perimeter.

   You can find anything you want downtown within the compass of ten square blocks.

3. space within limits; area; extent; range; scope: the broad compass of the novel.

   the narrow compass of the strait;

   the broad compass of the novel.

4. Also called range.  the total range of tones of a voice or of a musical instrument.

5. due or proper limits; moderate bounds.

   Their behavior stayed within the compass of propriety.

6. a passing round; circuit.

   the compass of a year.

7. Often compasses an instrument for drawing or describing circles, measuring distances, etc., consisting generally of two movable, rigid legs hinged to each other at one end (usually used withpair of ).

   to spread the legs of a compass and draw a larger circle.

8. Astronomy.

   1. Also called Mariner's Compass.  Compass. the constellation Pyxis.

   2. Compasses, the constellation Circinus.

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adjective

1. curved; forming a curve or arc: compass roof.

   a compass timber;

   compass roof.

verb (used with object)

• compasses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• compassed,
  past participle,  past
• compassing
  present participle

1. to go or move round; make the circuit of.

   It would take a week to compass his property on foot.

2. to extend or stretch around; hem in; surround; encircle.

   An old stone wall compasses their property.

3. to attain or achieve; accomplish; obtain.

   To have compassed this task in the limited time available is no mean achievement.

4. to contrive; plot; scheme.

   to compass a treacherous plan.

5. to make curved or circular.

6. to comprehend; to grasp, as with the mind.

   His mind could not compass the extent of the disaster.

compass British  

/ ˈkʌmpəs /

noun

1. an instrument for finding direction, usually having a magnetized needle which points to magnetic north swinging freely on a pivot

2. Also called: pair of compasses.  (often plural) an instrument used for drawing circles, measuring distances, etc, that consists of two arms, joined at one end, one arm of which serves as a pivot or stationary reference point, while the other is extended or describes a circle

3. limits or range

   within the compass of education

4. music the interval between the lowest and highest note attainable by a voice or musical instrument

5. archaic a circular course

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verb

1. to encircle or surround; hem in

2. to comprehend or grasp mentally

3. to achieve; attain; accomplish

4. obsolete to plot

compass Scientific  

/ kŭm′pəs /

1. A device used to determine geographical direction, usually consisting of a magnetic needle mounted on a pivot, aligning itself naturally with the Earth's magnetic field so that it points to the Earth's geomagnetic north or south pole.

2. A device used for drawing circles and arcs and for measuring distances on maps, consisting of two legs hinged together at one end.

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Synonym Usage

See range.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outcompass
  verb (used with object)
• precompass
  verb (used with object)
• compassable
  adjective
• compassless
  adjective
• uncompassable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• compasses
  plural

Participles

• compassing
  present
• compassed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• compass
  simple
• compasses
  simple
• have compassed
  perfect
• has compassed
  perfect
• am compassing
  progressive
• are compassing
  progressive
• is compassing
  progressive
• have been compassing
  perfect progressive
• has been compassing
  perfect progressive

Past

• compassed
  simple
• had compassed
  perfect
• was compassing
  progressive
• were compassing
  progressive
• had been compassing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will compass
  simple
• will have compassed
  perfect
• will be compassing
  progressive
• will have been compassing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of compass

First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English compassen, from Old French compasser “to measure,” from unattested Vulgar Latin compāssāre, equivalent to compāss(us), “equal step” ( Latin com- com- + pāssus pace ¹ ) + -āre verb suffix; (noun) Middle English compas, from Old French, derivative of compasser

Explanation

Long before we had GPS (Global Positioning System) devices, people used a magnetic instrument called a compass for navigation. Some people still use a compass to navigate — usually when their GPS isn’t working. Compass can also refer to another type of instrument, one that’s used for drawing circles; this should be familiar to you if you have ever studied geometry. In addition, compass can mean "range" or "scope." If you decide to hike the Appalachian Trail, using a compass (the navigational kind) should hopefully fall within your compass of ability. If not, we hope you own a reliable GPS.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

compass compasses compassed compassing

“The Wrong Girls” comes to have its own wayward sense of internal logic, navigating off a slightly woozy compass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Skye MRT said walkers should be wary of technology failing and be able to use a map and compass.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Despite her national profile, there remains a nagging suspicion that she lacks an internal compass and the courage of her convictions.

From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026

Thanks to their late father’s surveying compass, however, George gains an important skill in charting the land.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

When he felt the compass dissolve into a shimmer, they stopped.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

Researchers have proposed quantum compasses as highly accurate, "unjammable" alternatives to GPS that do not rely on satellites, and phonon lasers could help bring such concepts closer to reality.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 31, 2026

Guided by phosphorescent compasses strapped to their wrists, the divers reached the ship in just a few minutes.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025

Dr. Sharvit speculated that, lacking compasses, astrolabes or sextants, seafarers in the 14th century B.C. probably relied on celestial navigation, taking sightings and angles of the sun and star positions.

From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024

It’s the kind of showmanship that makes moral compasses short-circuit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

They sail over us, zipping and dipping and spinning, their little compasses guiding them to the throne platform.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

“Wild Swans” would seem to have laid bare every cruel irony of the volatile times it compassed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

The "great tracts of land" he imagines "compassed about with heavens fair" are not necessarily those of Eden.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 20, 2010

He compassed a great coup with 317 second-hand bath-tubs, became a wholesale bargain man with a Long Island City warehouse, and his slogan was known to all the city: "Fippany for Any Old Thing".

From Time Magazine Archive

And as men's political horizons expand toward the world state, each man feels a stronger need to cherish some one region small enough to be compassed by one heart and mind.

From Time Magazine Archive

He hath delivered me out of the snares of mine enemies," Nathan replied earnestly, "even when they compassed me about in wrath.

From The Golden Hope A Story of the Time of King Alexander the Great by Robert H. Fuller

The overt act relied on to convict him of "levying war" and "compassing the death of our Lord the King," was membership of a Reform society!

From The Trial of Theodore Parker For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence by Theodore Parker

Often it is a twig, a flower, a glass of water, a fire-steel, or something else, in appearance of no importance, which they employ as a means of compassing their intent.

From The Serapion Brethren. Vol. II by Ernst Theordor Wilhelm Hoffmann

The ‘formal garden’ of the Rose is equally true, inside the wall— The gardin was by mesuring Right even and squar in compassing.

From Medieval English Literature Home University of Modern Knowledge #43 by W. P. (William Paton) Ker

She remembers him chiefly as absorbed in the business and interest of his profession, intent upon compassing the support of his family, and achieving such distinction as might prove compatible with that object.

From Margaret Fuller (Marchesa Ossoli) by Julia Ward Howe

This manifestation, sixteen years after the mutiny at Cavite, seems to have had some relation to that event, for the petition accused the friars of compassing the death of Father Burgos, by subornation of justice.

From The Inhabitants of the Philippines by Frederic H. Sawyer