adjective of or relating to the North or South Pole.
of or relating to the pole of any sphere, a magnet, an electric cell, etc. opposite in character or action: The two have personalities that are polar.
capable of ionizing, as NaCl, HCl, or NaOH; electrolytic; heteropolar . central; pivotal: the polar provision of the treaty.
analogous to the polestar as a guide; guiding: a polar precept.
Origin of polar From the
Medieval Latin word
polāris, dating back to
1545–55. See
pole2 ,
-ar1 Related forms an·ti·po·lar , adjective trans·po·lar , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for polar icy ,
freezing ,
frigid ,
glacial ,
arctic ,
extreme ,
farthest ,
frozen ,
north ,
terminal ,
south ,
antagonistic ,
antipodal ,
antithetical ,
contradictory ,
contrary ,
converse ,
counter ,
diametric ,
reverse Examples from the Web for polar Contemporary Examples of polar The weather, the conditions, you can imagine it—a polar bear in a desert, with a swimming pool 50 centimetres deep.
Shaked spoke in these generalities initially—referring to two sets of people, two polar opposites on a pendulum.
Sykes suspects that the hairs come from either an unrecognized bear species, or an unknown hybrid of polar bear and brown bear.
She would leave every day of shooting during the polar vortex just grinning from ear-to-ear.
The world of the military is to the writer admittedly “the polar opposite” of his own.
Historical Examples of polar Polar ice would have been thawed by this reopening of communication.
But here, within the Polar circle, what is the lowest degree?
It is no new sea, returned Altamont; it is in every Polar chart, and has a name already.
It was a domed city in the polar regions, where nobody ever had to go outdoors.
I wonder if he's been frozen to death or eat up by polar bears, or what.
British Dictionary definitions for polar adjective situated at or near, coming from, or relating to either of the earth's poles or the area inside the Arctic or Antarctic Circles polar regions
having or relating to a pole or poles
pivotal or guiding in the manner of the Pole Star
directly opposite, as in tendency or character
chem Also: heteropolar (of a molecule or compound) being or having a molecule in which there is an uneven distribution of electrons and thus a permanent dipole moment water has polar molecules (of a crystal or substance) being or having a crystal that is bound by ionic bonds sodium chloride forms polar crystals Show More
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
Word Origin and History for polar adj. 1550s, from Middle French polaire (16c.) or directly from Medieval Latin polaris "of or pertaining to the poles," from Latin polus "an end of an axis" (see pole (n.2)). Meaning "directly opposite in character or tendency" is attested from 1832. Polar bear first recorded 1781.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
adj. Of or relating to a pole.
Having poles. Used of certain nerve cells having one or more processes.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Relating to a pole, such as the pole of a magnet or one of the electrodes of an electrolytic cell.
Relating to the North Pole or the South Pole of Earth, or analogous regions of another planet.
Relating to a molecule or substance that has polar bonds.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
