GREAT CIRCLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does great circle mean? 

• GREAT CIRCLE (noun)
  The noun GREAT CIRCLE has 1 sense:

1. a circular line on the surface of a sphere formed by intersecting it with a plane passing through the center

  Familiarity information: GREAT CIRCLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GREAT CIRCLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A circular line on the surface of a sphere formed by intersecting it with a plane passing through the center

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("great circle" is a kind of...):

line (a spatial location defined by a real or imaginary unidimensional extent)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "great circle"):

celestial equator; equinoctial; equinoctial circle; equinoctial line (the great circle on the celestial sphere midway between the celestial poles)

ecliptic (the great circle representing the apparent annual path of the sun; the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun; makes an angle of about 23 degrees with the equator)

equator (an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles)

celestial horizon; horizon (the great circle on the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the sensible horizon and the center of the Earth)

hour circle (a great circle on the celestial sphere that passes through both celestial poles)

line of longitude; meridian (an imaginary great circle on the surface of the earth passing through the north and south poles at right angles to the equator)

vertical circle (a great circle on the celestial sphere passing through the zenith and perpendicular to the horizon)

 Context examples 

An imaginary great circle on the surface of a heavenly body passing through the poles at right angles to the equator.

(Longitude, NCI Thesaurus)

And he went with them and made them form a great circle, open at one end where he stationed himself, and began to wish.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The great circle on the celestial sphere midway between the celestial poles (the projection of the north and south pole onto the celestial sphere).

(Celestial equator, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

When the carriages were really heard, when the guests began really to assemble, her own gaiety of heart was much subdued: the sight of so many strangers threw her back into herself; and besides the gravity and formality of the first great circle, which the manners of neither Sir Thomas nor Lady Bertram were of a kind to do away, she found herself occasionally called on to endure something worse.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)