magnetic variation
noun
Simple meaning
The angle between magnetic north and true north.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
magnehtihkvuhreeayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
mæɡˈnɛtɪkvɛɹiˈeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
militarynauticalnavigation
The angle (at a particular location) between magnetic north and true north
cartography
In cartography, the annual change in direction of the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field.
militarynauticalnavigation
In navigation, at a given place and time, the horizontal angle between the true north and magnetic north measured east or west according to whether magnetic north lies east or west of true north.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The angle (at a particular location) between magnetic north and true north
Used this way, magnetic variation is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.