longitude
Americannoun
-
Geography. angular distance east or west on the earth's surface, measured by the angle contained between the meridian of a particular place and some prime meridian, as that of Greenwich, England, and expressed either in degrees or by some corresponding difference in time.
-
Astronomy.
noun
-
distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian at 0° measured by the angle between the plane of the prime meridian and that of the meridian through the point in question, or by the corresponding time difference See latitude
-
astronomy short for celestial longitude
-
A measure of relative position east or west on the Earth's surface, given in degrees from a certain meridian, usually the prime meridian at Greenwich, England, which has a longitude of 0°. The distance of a degree of longitude is about 69 statute miles or 60 nautical miles (111 km) at the equator, decreasing to zero at the poles. Longitude and latitude are the coordinates used to identify any point on the Earth's surface.
-
Compare latitude
-
Celestial longitude.
Etymology
Origin of longitude
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin longitūdō length. See longi-, -tude
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.
The globe had been cut in half while he worked on it, and he held his breath as he put the two sides together—praying that the countries, latitude and longitude lines would match.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 9, 2025
At 105 degrees West longitude, an active satellite might see a piece of junk come within 50km of its position up to four times a day.
From BBC • Nov. 8, 2024
Using this data, researchers applied the kriging method, a well-known statistical technique, to make predictions of soil-bearing layer thickness and depth based on geographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude.
From Science Daily • May 30, 2024
But it is “rarely an issue,” he said, because 911 calls show the latitude and longitude of the caller, and dispatchers use Rapid Deploy, which pings cellphone locations.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2024
Alexander had given up on his Poe poem and was now adding latitude and longitude lines to a large hand-drawn map of the forest.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
