tropic
/ˈtɹɒpɪk/
tropic noun: either of the two parallels of latitude 23°26′ north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics.
Noun (1)
tropic (plural tropics)
- Either of the two parallels of latitude 23°26′ north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics.
- O conſider my caſe, moſt blisfull Queen, […] Diſpell thoſe Clouds which hover 'twixt my King and his higheſt Counſell, […] that my great Law-making Court be forced to turn no more to polemicall Committees, […] but that they may come again to the old Parliamentary Rode, To the path of their...1645, James Howell, “England’s Tears, for the Present Wars, which for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of the Strength, the Diversity of Battels, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, (Happened...
- For since on ev'ry Sea, on ev'ry Coast,
Your Men have been distress'd, your Navy tost,
Sev'n times the Sun has either Tropick view'd,1697, John Dryden, The Works of Virgil, Aeneas, Book I, lines 1062-64
- The component of tone or rhetoric in a sentence.
Adjective
tropic (comparative more tropic, superlative most tropic)
- Of, or relating to the tropics; tropical.
- Having the quality of indirectly inducing a biological or chemical change in a system or substrate.
- The binding of oxygen to hemoglobin is allosterically regulated by various tropic factors, such as BPG and acidity.
- Pertaining to, involving, or of the nature of a trope or tropes.
- This process of tropic change, once identified in nostalgia poems, can be applied to a range of new and emerging genres in various periods. Identifying the tropes of nostalgia, in other words, allows us to appreciate the process[…]2006, Aaron Santesso, A Careful Longing: The Poetics and Problems of Nostalgia, University of Delaware Press, →ISBN, page 12
- Tropes may also interact with other tropes: a trope (for example, a metonymic association) may become an element in a different trope (for instance, a metaphor), and thus undergo a transformation of its tropic identity.2006 October 27, Jens Kreinath, J.A.M. Snoek, Michael Stausberg, Theorizing Rituals, Volume 1: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts, BRILL, →ISBN, page 702
Noun (2) capitalized: Tropic
Tropic (plural Tropics)
- Alternative form of tropic (one of two specific lines of latitude that divide the Northern and Southern hemispheres, respectively; the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn).
tropic meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Thai
tropic in Hindi
- either of the two parallels
- ऊष्णकटिबन्ध ūṣṇakṭibandh
tropic in Arabic
- either of the two parallels
- مَدَار madār
tropic in Persian
- either of the two parallels
- مدار madâr
tropic in Thai
- either of the two parallels
- เขตร้อนของโลก kèet-rɔ́ɔn-kɔ̌ɔng-lôok
More languagesFewer languages
- tropic in Vietnamese
- nhiệt đới
Examples of tropic in a sentence
- Wooden structures in the tropics must be chemically treated to repel xylotomous pests.
- Malaria is endemic to the tropics.
- Once he had reached the tropics, he would leave the ship and begin his ‘Robinsonian project’.
Forms of tropic
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tropics |
| alternative abbreviation | trop. |
| alternative form | Tropic |
| plural | Tropics |
| alternative form (obsolete) | tropick |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more tropic |
| superlative | most tropic |
Origin of tropic
From Late Latin tropicus (“of or pertaining to the solstice, as a noun, one of the tropics”), from Ancient Greek τροπικός (tropikós, “of or pertaining to a turn or change; or the solstice; or a trope or figure; tropic; tropical; etc.”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “turn; solstice; trope”).
Words formed from tropic
Phrases with tropic
Words that rhyme with tropic
- topic
- microscopic
- polytropic
- telescopic
- catascopic
- megascopic
- monotropic
- myopic
- tonotopic
- allotopic
- diascopic
- dystropic
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- ectopic
- fibroscopic
- gonadotropic
- macroscopic
- microendoscopic
- monoscopic
- polytopic
- proctoscopic
- rhinoscopic
- thermoscopic
- thermotropic
- acroscopic
- adrenocorticotropic
- aerotropic
- Afrotropic
- allotropic
- amblyopic
- ametropic
- anascopic
- anoscopic
- anthropic
- antigonadotropic
- antitropic
- antroscopic
- apocopic
- arthroscopic
- arthrotropic
- asthenopic
- astroscopic
- atopic
- auriscopic
- autoscopic
- autostereoscopic
- baroscopic
- barotropic
- basiscopic
- bathmotropic
- bioscopic
- bronchoscopic
- brontoscopic
- chemotropic
- chromatophorotropic
- chromoendoscopic
- chromotropic
- chronoscopic
- chronotopic
- chronotropic
- colorectoscopic
Questions about tropic
- What does tropic mean?
- Tropic means either of the two parallels of latitude 23°26′ north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics.
- What is tropic in Hindi?
- Tropic in Hindi is ऊष्णकटिबन्ध (ūṣṇakṭibandh). See Tropic meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tropic?
- Tropic can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce tropic?
- Tropic is pronounced /ˈtɹɒpɪk/.
- What is the plural of tropic?
- The plural of tropic is tropics.
Words near tropic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tropic (page history and authors); Tropic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tropic.wav.
Cite this entry: “tropic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tropic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.