altitude
/ˈaltɪtjuːd
/noun [mass noun]
1The height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level: flight data including airspeed and altitude [count noun]: flying at altitudes over 15,000 feet...
- In its upper reaches, climbers are at heights equal to the cruising altitudes for passenger jets.
- Therefore, the airplane may not be controllable at lower altitudes and airspeeds.
- Air at very high altitude smells completely different to lower altitudes.
Synonyms
height, elevation, distance above the sea/ground;
loftiness
1.1Great height: the mechanism can freeze at altitude...
- The material soaks up water that freezes at altitude and can cause delamination that may not be readily visible.
- Both nations have struggled in recent years while playing at altitude, where the thin air hands an advantage to those acclimatised to the conditions.
- Most people dont sleep well at altitude.
1.2 Astronomy The apparent height of a celestial object above the horizon, measured in angular distance.A scale along the staff showed the altitude, or angle above the horizon, of the body....
- Also, on any given day the Sun circles the sky at the same apparent altitude.
- Like other nautical instruments its primary function was to measure the altitude of the sun or a star above the horizon.
1.3 Geometry The length of the perpendicular line from a vertex to the opposite side of a figure.Let y be the altitude of the triangular cross section of the wedge in Figure 6a cut by a plane at distance x from the base....
- This is a good deal like having a theory that tells us that the area of a plane figure is one-half the base times the altitude, without telling us for what figures this holds.
Derivatives
altitudinal
/ adjective ...- Eastern birds may migrate south, but western populations are more often altitudinal migrants, moving from the mountains into nearby lowlands in winter.
- However, they commonly make altitudinal movements as seasons change and in dry seasons they may move beyond their normal range in search of food.
- Most species are sedentary, although some make nomadic wanderings and altitudinal shifts in response to food availability.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin altitudo, from altus 'high'.
Altitude is from Latin altitudo, from altus ‘high’. The latter is also the source of altar (Old English), a raised structure for worship, enhance (Middle English), originally ‘make higher’; exalt (Late Middle English), with ex- ‘out, upwards’; and haughty (mid 16th century), from altus via French haut.