magnetic compass

American

noun

a compass having a magnetized needle generally in line with the magnetic poles of the earth.

magnetic compass British

noun

a compass containing a magnetic needle pivoted in a horizontal plane, that indicates the direction of magnetic north at points on the earth's surface

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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magnetic compass

Hatchlings come equipped with a magnetic compass that helps them maintain direction, and a magnetic map that provides location information essential for successful navigation.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025

Songbirds that migrate at night calibrate their magnetic compass to the setting sun, then use the stars as a compass.

From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2025

Last, even though songbirds fly at night under the dim light of the stars, their magnetic compass is light-dependent, hinting at a link between vision and magnetic sensing.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 15, 2022

Centuries earlier, the Chinese invented the magnetic compass.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

Before we were allowed aboard the Rena, Dad delivered a series of lectures about navigation, tides, the magnetic compass, seamanship, rope-splicing, right-of-way, and nautical terminology.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023