location
Americannoun
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a place of settlement, activity, or residence.
This town is a good location for a young doctor.
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a place or situation occupied.
a house in a fine location.
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a tract of land of designated situation or limits.
a mining location.
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Movies. a place outside of the studio that is used for filming a movie, scene, etc.
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Computers. any position on a register or memory device capable of storing one machine word.
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Civil Law. a letting or renting.
idioms
noun
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a site or position; situation
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the act or process of locating or the state of being located
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a place outside a studio where filming is done
shot on location
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a Black African or Coloured township, usually located near a small town See also township
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(formerly) an African tribal reserve
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computing a position in a memory capable of holding a unit of information, such as a word, and identified by its address
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Roman law Scots law the letting out on hire of a chattel or of personal services
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of location
First recorded in 1585–95; from Latin locātiōn-, stem of locātiō “arrangement, rental,” in Late Latin: “placement,” equivalent to locate + -ion
Explanation
A location is a fixed place or position in space. If you are lost, you don't know your location. You can try to figure out your location by consulting a map or asking a friendly local who has a better sense of direction than you do. The noun location means the determination of something's position. If you are on a scavenger hunt, you have to determine the location of various random objects. So on your hunt, finding birthday candles may be easy, but good luck finding the location of a ferrule, unless you happen to know it is the metal band on a pencil that holds the eraser in place.
Vocabulary lists containing location
myPerspectives 10.1
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Let It Be
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Location data shows the ship has spent the last month off the north-east coasts of Oman and the UAE.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
Location stopped: Boarded in Indian Ocean 'transporting oil from Iran'
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Downtown LA Proper – Location was everything for this trip, and the Proper delivered.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
Tickets included in hospitality packages sold by On Location, the official hospitality provider of the LA28 Games, will not count toward the general limit.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
I asked him again of Pro Bono’s Bride & their Location.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.