polar circle

American  

noun

1. either the Arctic or the Antarctic Circle.

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polar circle British  

noun

1. a term for either the Arctic Circle Antarctic Circle

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polar circle Scientific  

1. The Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle.

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Etymology

Origin of polar circle

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

“We basically achieved everything we set out to do,” the expedition’s leader, Markus Rex, told The Associated Press by satellite phone as it left the polar circle last week.

From Washington Times • Oct. 12, 2020

The diagram shows that the maximum temperature of no place upon the Earth’s surface approaches the boiling-point of water, and that it is only within the polar circle that the mean temperature is below freezing-point.

From Are the Planets Inhabited? by Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)

There is a railway running as far north as the 67th parallel of latitude, about fifty miles beyond the polar circle into Lapland, to the famous mines of Malmberget, with a branch to Trondhjem, Norway.

From Norwegian Life by Clough, Ethlyn T.

In 1839 the Englishman Balleny discovered the Sabrina Coast at the edge of the polar circle.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Walter, F. P.

The musk-ox had retreated to the polar circle.

From Ancient Man The Beginning of Civilizations by Van Loon, Hendrik Willem