tropic

1 of 4

noun

trop·​ic ˈträ-pik 

1

: either of the two parallels of terrestrial latitude at a distance of about 23¹/₂ degrees north or south of the equator where the sun is directly overhead when it reaches its most northerly or southerly point in the sky compare tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn

2

tropics or Tropics plural : the region lying between the tropics

tropic

2 of 4

adjective (1)

: of, relating to, or occurring in the tropics

tropic

3 of 4

adjective (2)

tro·​pic ˈtrō-pik 

1

: of, relating to, or characteristic of tropism or of a tropism

2

of a hormone : influencing the activity of a specified gland

-tropic

4 of 4

adjective combining form

1

: turning, changing, or tending to turn or change in a (specified) manner or in response to a (specified) stimulus

geotropic

2

: attracted to or acting upon (something specified)

neurotropic

Examples of tropic in a Sentence

Noun

a vacation in the tropics

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Another new study, published in Science on Dec. 5, investigates declining low-cloud cover in the northern mid-latitudes and tropics that could be causing increased warming rates. —Andrew Freedman, Axios, 9 Dec. 2024

Courtesy of Luke Auld-Thomas et al/Cambridge University Press Archaeologists increasingly recognize that the world's tropics and subtropics hosted a wide variety of urban forms in antiquity. —Anna Lagos, WIRED, 30 Oct. 2024

Richardson has since created a network of cameras across the U.S., from Alaska to Arizona, Hawaii to Maine, tundra to tropics. —Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 23 Oct. 2024

But that is a much more arduous task in the dense tropics. —Ken Silverstein, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

This is likely the beginning of a period of frenetic activity characteristic of August, September, and the first half of October in the Atlantic tropics. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 4 Aug. 2024

That’s in association with the MJO, or Madden-Julian Oscillation, a large-scale overturning circulation that meanders eastward through the global tropics. —Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 31 July 2024

That's another sign that the main development region of the Atlantic tropics is heating up way ahead of schedule this year. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 2 July 2024

Plants & Animals Plant of the Month: Hibiscus Nearly synonymous with the global tropics and subtropics, hibiscus symbolizes the Caribbean’s transnational past, present, and future. —JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024

Adjective

Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 before weakening into a tropic storm. —David Faris, Newsweek, 9 July 2024

After a total of nine hours under the waves, two men with chattering teeth were able to emerge from their frigid craft into bright sunshine, blue skies and tropic heat. —William J. Broad, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2023

For long hours Monday, gray clouds seemed to presage rain, and the damp air seemed to enhance the sultry sense of tropic life. —Martin Weil, Washington Post, 4 July 2023

The engine that powers every tropic cyclone is convection: enormous volumes of moist, rising air create a vacuum at the surface that sucks in surrounding air as spiraling winds. —Martin J. Kernan, Scientific American, 1 June 2023

Here the lemon and orange grow to perfection and almost all of the fruits and vegetables of the temperate and semi-tropic climes flourish, while experiments made by some of our growers show that the banana, pineapple and other tropical fruits will do well. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Feb. 2023

The underlying justification for their mastery of this bountiful, beautiful semi-tropic place was the conviction that their predecessors — native Americans, Spanish, Mexican — were unappreciative and undeserving, unlike the grateful and energetic Yankee. —Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2022

Recent research reveals more variety in this creature, which can be found in tropic locations around the world. —David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 July 2021

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English tropik, borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French tropike, tropique, borrowed from Late Latin tropicus (short for tropicus circulus), noun derivative of Latin tropicus "of a solstice or equinox," borrowed from Greek tropikós, from tropḗ "turn, change, solstitial point" (noun derivative from the base of trépein "to turn") + -ikos -ic entry 1 — more at trope

Adjective (1)

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French tropike, tropique "of the sun's change of direction at the solstice, of either of the two tropics," borrowed from Latin tropicus "of a solstice or equinox" — more at tropic entry 1

Adjective (2)

generalization of -tropic, after German tropisch

Adjective combining form

French -tropique, from Greek -tropos -tropous

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective (1)

1624, in the meaning defined above

Adjective (2)

1899, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing tropic

• tropic bird

Kids Definition

tropic

1 of 3 noun

trop·​ic ˈträp-ik 

1

: either of the two parallels of the earth's latitude that are approximately 23½ degrees north of the equator and approximately 23½ degrees south of the equator

2

plural often capitalized : the region lying between the two tropics

tropic

2 of 3 adjective

: tropical

tropic

3 of 3 adjective

tro·​pic ˈtrō-pik 

: of, relating to, or being a tropism

a tropic movement of a plant

Etymology

Noun

Middle English tropik (noun) "either of the points at which the sun appears furthest from the equator," from Latin tropicus (adjective) "of a solstice or equinox," from Greek tropikos (same meaning), from tropē "turn"; so called because a tropic marks the turning point in the sun's apparent path up the sky

Medical Definition

tropic

adjective

tro·​pic ˈtrō-pik 

1

: of, relating to, or characteristic of tropism or of a tropism

2

of a hormone : influencing the activity of a specified gland