ANTARCTIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Antarctic mean? 

• ANTARCTIC (noun)
  The noun ANTARCTIC has 1 sense:

1. the region around the south pole: Antarctica and surrounding waters

  Familiarity information: ANTARCTIC used as a noun is very rare.

• ANTARCTIC (adjective)
  The adjective ANTARCTIC has 1 sense:

1. at or near the south pole

  Familiarity information: ANTARCTIC used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTARCTIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The region around the south pole: Antarctica and surrounding waters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Antarctic; Antarctic Zone; South Frigid Zone

Instance hypernyms:

Frigid Zone; polar region; polar zone (the part of the Earth's surface forming a cap over a pole; characterized by frigid climate)

Meronyms (parts of "Antarctic"):

Antarctic continent; Antarctica (an extremely cold continent at the south pole almost entirely below the Antarctic Circle; covered by an ice cap up to 13,000 feet deep)

Antarctic Ocean (the southern waters surrounding Antarctica)

Derivation:

Antarctic (at or near the south pole)

• ANTARCTIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At or near the south pole

Synonyms:

Antarctic; south-polar

Similar:

polar (of or existing at or near a geographical pole or within the Arctic or Antarctic Circles)

Derivation:

Antarctic (the region around the south pole: Antarctica and surrounding waters)

 Context examples 

The Antarctic glaciers studied by Rignot's group have thinned so much they are now floating above places where they used to sit solidly on land, which means their grounding lines are retreating inland.

(West Antarctic Glacier loss appears unstoppable, NASA)

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet locks away enough water to raise sea level an estimated 53 meters (174 feet), more than any other ice sheet on the planet.

(Massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet has history of instability, National Science Foundatio)

IceCube is an array of 5,160 optical sensors, each roughly two feet in diameter, deeply encased within a cubic kilometer of very clear Antarctic ice near NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

(Antarctic detector offers first look at how Earth stops high-energy neutrinos in their tracks, National Science Foundation)

The Ross Ice Shelf stabilises the West Antarctic ice sheet by blocking the ice which flows into it from some of the world’s largest glaciers.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The world's largest colony of king penguins has declined by nearly 90 percent in 35 years, according to an alarming study published in Antarctic Science.

(Study: World's Largest King Penguin Colony Declines Sharply, VOA)

A group of islands in the Indian Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica, southeast of the French Southern and Antarctic Islands.

(Heard Island and McDonald Islands, NCI Thesaurus)

The new research illustrates how sudden climate changes that began in the North Atlantic around Greenland circulated southward, appearing in the Antarctic approximately 200 years later.

(Antarctic ice core reveals how sudden climate changes in North Atlantic moved south, NSF)

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has concluded that bacteria in a lake 800 meters (2,600 feet) beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may digest methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, preventing its release into the atmosphere.

(Methane-eating bacteria in lake deep beneath Antarctic ice sheet may reduce greenhouse gas emissions, National Science Foundation)

The study used observations from the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project, or SOCCOM, which releases instruments that drift with the currents to monitor Antarctic conditions.

(Data from robotic drifters explain mysterious holes in Antarctic sea ice, National Science Foundation)

WMO spokeswoman Claire Nullis says the warming conditions prevailing over both the Arctic and the Antarctic are very alarming.

(World Meteorological Org.: Arctic Warming Appears Irreversible, VOA)