altitude
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English
Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Latin altitūdō (“height”), from altus (“high”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈælt.ɪˌtjuːd/, /ˈælt.ɪˌt͡ʃuːd/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /ˈælt.ɪˌtuːd/
Noun
altitude (countable and uncountable, plural altitudes)
- The absolute height of a location, usually measured from sea level.
- As the altitude increases, the temperature gets lower, so remember to bring warm clothes to the mountains.
- 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
- Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.
- A vertical distance.
- (geometry) The distance measured perpendicularly from a figure's vertex to the opposite side of the vertex.
- The perpendicular height of a triangle is known as its altitude.
- (astronomy) The angular distance of a heavenly body above our Earth's horizon.
- Height of rank or excellence; superiority.
- 1704, [Jonathan Swift], A Tale of a Tub. , London: John Nutt, , →OCLC:
- Whoever has an ambition to be heard in a crowd, must press, and squeeze, and thrust, and climb, with indefatigable pains, till he has exalted himself to a certain degree of altitude above them.
- (dated, in the plural) Elevation of spirits; heroics; haughty airs.
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and Archibald Constable and Co., , →OCLC:
- The man of law began to get into his altitudes.
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: , volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: S Richardson; , →OCLC:
- Is this deified passion , in its greatest altitudes , fitted to stand the day ?
- Highest point or degree.
- c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- He is [proud] even to the altitude of his virtue.
- (commutative algebra, dated, of a ring) Krull dimension.
- (commutative algebra, of an ideal) Height.
Derived terms
Translations
absolute height
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distance measured upwards
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distance measured perpendicularly from a figure's vertex to the opposite side of the vertex
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distance measured angularly of a heavenly body
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “altitude”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “altitude”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
altitude f (plural altitudes)
Related terms
Further reading
- “altitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Galician
Etymology
Noun
altitude f (plural altitudes)
Related terms
Portuguese
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
altitude f (plural altitudes)