magnetic compass

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noun

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

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Words nearby magnetic compass

magnetic character reader, magnetic charge, magnetic chart, magnetic circuit, magnetic coefficient, magnetic compass, magnetic concentration, magnetic confinement, magnetic constant, magnetic core, magnetic course

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use magnetic compass in a sentence

Thanks to the magnetic compasses hidden in volcanic rocks ancient and new, scientists know where each tectonic jigsaw piece has been over eons of time.
The New Historian of the Smash That Made the Himalayas|Robin George Andrews|April 14, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Lohmann suspected that something more sophisticated than a magnetic compass alone keeps sea turtles on a safe trajectory.
How Sea Turtles Find Their Way - Issue 94: Evolving|Jason G. Goldman|December 16, 2020|Nautilus
Sea turtles are born not just with a magnetic compass, but also with a magnetic map.
How Sea Turtles Find Their Way - Issue 94: Evolving|Jason G. Goldman|December 16, 2020|Nautilus
Muscovites call their favorite station “Ukho Moskvy” (Ear of Moscow) and see it as an institution, a compass for society.
The Kremlin Is Killing Echo of Moscow, Russia’s Last Independent Radio Station|Anna Nemtsova|November 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

He repeated it again, slowly: “He has no values…He has no moral compass whatsoever.”
Will Chris Christie Bow to Iowa’s Pork Kings?|Olivia Nuzzi|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the future, the ship could be fitted with futuristic lasers and electro-magnetic rail-guns too.
Can the Navy's $12 Billion Stealth Destroyer Stay Afloat?|Dave Majumdar|October 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Both are the result of magnetic activity on the sun, but a solar flare has more energy than a CME.
The Sun Is Pummeling Earth. Now What? Solar Storms for Dummies|Lizzie Crocker|September 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That shows the magnetic field at work protecting us from these highly energetic particles.
About That ‘World-Ending’ Solar Storm...|Nicole Gugliucci|July 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He went off whistling, and Isabel raised her hand and looked at it meditatively; his own had been unexpectedly warm and magnetic.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
She habitually ate chocolates for their sustaining quality; they contained much nutriment in small compass, she said.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The manual compass on these organs seldom extended higher than f2 or g3, though it often went down to GG.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller
Later it was extended to F, 30 notes, which is the compass generally found in England.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller
This was the point of compass revealed by the astrologer as most favourable to the young candidate for manly honours.
Our Little Korean Cousin|H. Lee M. Pike

British Dictionary definitions for magnetic compass

magnetic compass

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