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CIRCUMFERENCE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The size of something as given by the distance around it
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("circumference" is a kind of...):
size (the physical magnitude of something (how big it is))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circumference"):
girth (the distance around a person's body)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The length of the closed curve of a circle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("circumference" is a kind of...):
length (the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place)
Meronyms (parts of "circumference"):
sextant (a unit of angular distance equal to 60 degrees)
straight angle (an angle of 180 degrees)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The boundary line encompassing an area or object
Example:
a danger to all races over the whole circumference of the globe
Synonyms:
circuit; circumference
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
Hypernyms ("circumference" is a kind of...):
border; borderline; boundary line; delimitation; mete (a line that indicates a boundary)
Derivation:
circumferent (closely encircling)
circumferential (lying around or just outside the edges or outskirts)
Context examples:
This little round table with the marble top (it's two feet ten in circumference), I bought.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
They occupied nearly the whole circumference of his field of vision.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The length of a straight line passing through the center of the inner open space or cavity of a tubular organ and connecting two points on the circumference.
(Lumen Diameter, Food and Drug Administration)
A classification system for the endoscopic assessment of reflux esophagitis based on the number and extent of mucosal breaks and their relationships to the mucosal folds and esophageal circumference.
(Los Angeles Classification System, NCI Thesaurus)
I estimated its circumference at twenty-five miles, its width as varying from two to five miles; while my most conservative calculation placed on its beaches two hundred thousand seals.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than sixteen in circumference.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
A unit of plane angle measurement equal to the length of the arc cut out by the angle, divided by the circumference of the circle, and multiplied by 360.
(Degree Unit of Plane Angle, NCI Thesaurus)
Increasing sleep duration or bedtime variability was strongly associated with multiple metabolic and simultaneous problems such as lower HDL cholesterol and higher waist circumference, blood pressure, total triglycerides, and fasting glucose.
(Study links irregular sleep patterns to metabolic disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
These associations—which were adjusted for numerous factors including smoking, waist circumference, and chronic conditions—weren’t altered when the percentage of calories from fat or carbohydrate were considered.
(Protein Consumption Linked to Longevity, NIH)
The categorization of a person's body frame into small, medium and large based on the measurement of wrist circumference or the breadth of the elbow.
(Body Frame Size, NCI Thesaurus)
