MAGNETIC COMPASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does magnetic compass mean? 

• MAGNETIC COMPASS (noun)
  The noun MAGNETIC COMPASS has 1 sense:

1. compass based on an indicator (as a magnetic needle) that points to the magnetic north

  Familiarity information: MAGNETIC COMPASS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAGNETIC COMPASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Compass based on an indicator (as a magnetic needle) that points to the magnetic north

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("magnetic compass" is a kind of...):

compass (navigational instrument for finding directions)

Meronyms (parts of "magnetic compass"):

magnetic needle (a slender magnet suspended in a magnetic compass on a mounting with little friction; used to indicate the direction of the earth's magnetic pole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "magnetic compass"):

compass card; mariner's compass (compass in the form of a card that rotates so that 0 degrees or North points to magnetic north)

 Context examples 

This is the first evidence that a fish species uses its internal magnetic compass to form a memory of current direction.

(Study uncovers magnetic memory of European glass eels, National Science Foundation)

A new study has found that the larvae of haddock, a commercially important type of cod, have a magnetic compass to find their way at sea.

(North Atlantic haddock use magnetic compass to guide them, National Science Foundation)