EQUATOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does equator mean? 

• EQUATOR (noun)
  The noun EQUATOR has 2 senses:

1. an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles

2. a circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two usually equal and symmetrical parts

  Familiarity information: EQUATOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EQUATOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

the equator is the boundary between the northern and southern hemispheres

Hypernyms ("equator" is a kind of...):

great circle (a circular line on the surface of a sphere formed by intersecting it with a plane passing through the center)

Derivation:

equatorial (of or existing at or near the geographic equator)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two usually equal and symmetrical parts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("equator" is a kind of...):

circle (ellipse in which the two axes are of equal length; a plane curve generated by one point moving at a constant distance from a fixed point)

Derivation:

equate (make equal, uniform, corresponding, or matching)

equatorial (of or relating to or at an equator)

 Context examples 

An accessible supply of water ice near the equator would be of interest in planning astronaut exploration of Mars.

(A Fresh Look at Older Data Yields a Surprise Near the Martian Equator, NASA)

Many thousands of these Martian features, collectively called "recurring slope lineae" or RSL, have been identified in more than 50 rocky-slope areas, from the equator to about halfway to the poles.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

Deserts usually form in the subtropics because of what's called Hadley circulation, through which air rises at the equator and descends in the subtropics.

(New study finds world’s largest desert, the Sahara, has grown by 10 percent since 1920, National Science Foundation)

Juno also has detected a new radiation zone, just above the gas giant's atmosphere, near the equator.

(NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, NASA)

At the base of the ocean food web, phytoplankton are projected to decline due to higher surface temperatures near the equator.

(Pacific island fish migrating to cooler seas, SciDev.Net)

In particular, around the equinox — the time when the Sun crosses Titan's equator — massive clouds can form in tropical regions and cause powerful methane storms.

(Dust Storms on Titan Spotted for the First Time, NASA)

Similar valleys occur elsewhere on Mars between about 35 and 42 degrees latitude, both north and south of the equator.

(Some Ancient Mars Lakes Came Long After Others, NASA)

The sun completes a rotation about once a month — faster near its equator than near its poles.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Tracks Sunspots, NASA)

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

(The Icy Mountains of Pluto, NASA)

A narrow cloud band encircles the planet north of the equator.

(Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune, NASA)