prime meridian
noun
Simple meaning
Meridian at zero degree longitude from which east and west are reckoned.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prymmerideeuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹaɪmmɚˈɪdiən
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
Meridian at zero degree longitude from which east and west are reckoned (usually the Greenwich longitude in England)
The reference line at 0° longitude, passing through Greenwich, England, from which longitude east and west is measured.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Meridian at zero degree longitude from which east and west are reckoned (usually the Greenwich longitude in England)
Used this way, prime meridian is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
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.