longitude

/-tʃuːd/noun

The distance of a place east or west of the prime meridian, measured as an angle.

Example sentences

“Sailors once struggled to calculate their longitude at sea.”
“Every place on Earth can be located by its latitude and longitude.”

Memory hook: longitude lines run the long way, pole to pole. It was famously the harder of the two coordinates to measure at sea.

Often confused with longitude

longitude vs latitude: latitude (noun): A number in degrees that tells you how far north or south of the equator a place lies.

Related words

equatorThe imaginary circle around the middle of the Earth, halfway between the poles, separating the northern and southern halves of the planet.hemisphereOne half of the Earth, such as the northern, southern, eastern, or western half.globeThe world we live on; the planet Earth.continentOne of the earth's largest unbroken landmasses, usually separated from the others by oceans or major geographical features, sometimes counted together with its shelves and nearby islands.atlasA book of maps, often including charts, pictures, or explanatory text.overseasLocated in or connected with a foreign country, typically one across an ocean.