Other forms: latitudes
Latitude is position measured in degrees north or south of the middle line. Fifty degrees of latitude, high latitudes, latitude and longitude.
It was easy to find at sea from the sun or the pole star, where longitude needed an accurate clock and took centuries to solve. One degree of latitude is about a hundred and eleven kilometres anywhere on earth. It also means freedom to act as you choose.
1nounlatitudePosition measured in degrees north or south of the equator.
“London and Calgary are at almost the same latitude.”
2nounfreedomFreedom to act as you choose.
“Our manager gives us a lot of latitude in how we organise our work.”
latitude is a measure of position.
Latin latitudo means breadth, from latus, broad. Longitude, its partner, means length.
Latin
lātitūdō — breadth, width, latitude
Old French
latitude
English, today
latitude
Built from
Borrowed into Middle English - from Old French latitude, from Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus. Possibly related with lateral, though this is uncertain.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA