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tropical

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Of or about the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

trahpihkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɹɑpɪkəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.

  2. From, or similar to, a hot, humid climate.

noun

  1. A tropical plant.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.

Used this way, tropical is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use tropical

  • “We are looking forward to our tropical vacation to a warm, sunny island.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Pertaining

tropical africatropical america

Other combinations

tropical raintropical suntropical agriculture

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • tropicnounDerived noun

    Either of two parallels of latitude about 23.5 degrees to the north and south of the equator representing the points farthest north and south at which the sun can shine directly overhead…

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • tropical medicinenounCompound term

    The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that are found most often in tropical regions.

  • tropical pitcher plantnounCompound term

    Any of several tropical carnivorous shrubs or woody herbs of the genus Nepenthes.

  • tropical prawnnounCompound term

    Edible tropical and warm-water prawn.

  • tropical sorenounCompound term

    Leishmaniasis of the skin.

  • tropical spruenounCompound term

    A chronic disorder that occurs in tropical and non-tropical forms and in both children and adults.

  • tropical yearnounCompound term

    The time for the earth to make one revolution around the sun, measured between two vernal equinoxes.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • tropic birdnounRelated term

    Mostly white web-footed tropical seabird often found far from land.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: of or pertaining to the tropics

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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.