Tropic Definition

trŏpĭk
noun
Either of two circles of the celestial sphere parallel to the celestial equator, one, the Tropic of Cancer, c. 23° 26 north, and the other, the Tropic of Capricorn, c. 23° 26 south: they are the limits of the apparent north-and-south journey of the sun and are determined by the obliquity of the ecliptic.
Webster's New World
Either of two parallels of latitude (Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn) situated on either side of the earth's equator that correspond to the astronomical tropics.
Webster's New World
adjective
Of the tropics; tropical.
Webster's New World
Relating to or exhibiting tropism.
American Heritage Medicine
Synonyms:
suffix
Turning or changing in a specified way or in response to a specified stimulus.
Heliotropic.
American Heritage
Affecting or attracted to something specified.
Psychotropic.
American Heritage

Turning or changing.

Wiktionary
affix
Turning toward or from, changing because of, or otherwise responding to a (specified kind of) stimulus.
Phototropic.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Tropic

Noun

Singular:
tropic
Plural:
tropics

Origin of Tropic

  • Middle English tropik from Old French tropique from Late Latin tropicus from Latin of a turn from Greek tropikos from tropē a turning trep- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Greek tropē a turning tropic

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From –tropic

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Tropic Sentence Examples

  • Mount Morrison stands nearly under the Tropic of Cancer.

  • In an area to be defined roughly as lying about the Tropic of Cancer, between Hawaii and the Bonin Islands, there are scattered a few small islands and reefs, of most of which the position, if not the existence, is doubtful.

  • The surrounding country is one of the prettiest and most fertile regions in Cuba, varied with woods, rivers, rocky gulches, beautiful cascades and charming tropic vegetation.

  • Gunter's Quadrant, an instrument made of wood, brass or other substance, containing a kind of stereographic projection of the sphere on the plane of the equinoctial, the eye being supposed to be placed in one of the poles, so that the tropic, ecliptic, and horizon form the arcs of circles, but the hour circles are other curves, drawn by means of several altitudes of the sun for some particular latitude every year.

  • Being informed that at Syene (Assuan), on the day of the summer solstice at noon, a well was lit up through all its depth, so that Syene lay on the tropic, he measured, at the same hour,the zenith distance of the sun at Alexandria.

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Words Starting With

TTRTRO

Words Ending With

CICPIC

Unscrambles

tropic

Words Starting With T and Ending With C

Starts With T & Ends With CStarts With TR & Ends With CStarts With T & Ends With IC

Word Length

6 Letter Words6 Letter Words Starting With T6 Letter Words Ending With C