Word.ws English Dictionary

tropical

/ˈtɹɒp.ɪ.kəl//ˈtɹɑ.pɪ.kəl/

tropical adjective: of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.

Adjective

tropical (comparative more tropical, superlative most tropical)

  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.
    • We've had a lot of tropical nights this summer.
    • My favorite tropical fruits are pineapples and coconuts.
  3. (dated) Pertaining to, involving, or of the nature of a trope or tropes; figurative, metaphorical.
    • But we, by the real spiritual presence of Christ, do understand Christ to be present, as the Spirit of God is present in the hearts of the faithful, by blessing and grace; and this is all which we mean besides the tropical and figurative presence.1653 (indicated as 1654), “The Real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Proved against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. Section I. State of the Question.”, in Reginald...
    • The foundation of all parables is some analogy or similitude between the tropical or allusive part of the parable and the thing intended by it.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
  4. Pertaining to tropical geometry.

Noun

tropical (plural tropicals)

  1. A tropical plant.
    • The potato, as a mountain tropical plant, is capable of growing in cooler weather than any other tropical except the Nasturtian.1856, “The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 12, page 275

tropical meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

tropical in Hindi

of or pertaining to the tropics
उष्णकटिबंधीय uṣṇakṭibandhīya
from or similar to a hot humid climate
उष्णकटिबंधीय uṣṇakṭibandhīya

tropical in Tamil

வெப்ப மண்டல, வெப்ப மண்டலம் சார்ந்த, வெப்ப மண்டலம், வெப்பப் பிரதேசம், அயனமண்டலத்துக்குரிய

tropical in Urdu

شدید گرم

tropical in Bengali

of or pertaining to the tropics
গ্রীষ্মমণ্ডলীয় griśśõmonḍoliẏo
from or similar to a hot humid climate
গ্রীষ্মমণ্ডলীয় griśśõmonḍoliẏo
More languagesFewer languages
tropical in Malayalam
അയനപരമായ, ഉഷ്ണമേഖലയെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, ഉഷ്ണമേഖലയിലുള്ള, ഉഷ്ണമേഖലയുടെ സവിശേഷതയായ
tropical in Kannada
ಉಷ್ಣವಲಯದ, ಭೂಮಧ್ಯರೇಖೆಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ
tropical in Gujarati
ઉષ્ણકટિબંધીય uṣṇakṭibandhīya
tropical in Tagalog
alindanga
tropical in Arabic
مَدَارِيّ madāriyy
tropical in Indonesian
tropis
tropical in Vietnamese
vùng nhiệt đới

Examples of tropical in a sentence

  • "I always thought a begonia was a houseplant!" exclaimed Sue, staring at the towering tropical specimen.
  • Janice was a tropical depression 10 days ago, a tropical storm 5 days ago, and a hurricane yesterday and today.
  • I mist my tropical plants every morning.

All 40 example sentences with tropical

Forms of tropical

Adjective
comparativemore tropical
superlativemost tropical
alternative abbreviationtrop.
Noun
pluraltropicals

Origin of tropical

From tropic + -al.

Words formed from tropical

Phrases with tropical

8 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with tropical

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tropical

What does tropical mean?
Tropical means of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.
What is tropical in Hindi?
Tropical in Hindi is उष्णकटिबंधीय (uṣṇakṭibandhīya). See Tropical meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is tropical?
Tropical can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce tropical?
Tropical is pronounced /ˈtɹɒp.ɪ.kəl/ (UK).

Words near tropical in the dictionary

  1. tropic acid
  2. tropic hormone
  3. tropic hormones
  4. Tropic of Cancer
  5. Tropic of Capricorn
  6. tropical
  7. tropical almond
  8. tropical almonds
  9. tropical arc
  10. tropical arcs
  11. tropical astrology

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tropical (page history and authors); tropical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tropical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tropical (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); tropical (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Cite this entry: “tropical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tropical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.