great circle


noun
  1. a circle on a spherical surface such that the plane containing the circle passes through the center of the sphere.: Compare small circle.

  2. a circle of which a segment represents the shortest distance between two points on the surface of the earth.

Origin of great circle

1
First recorded in 1585–95

Words Nearby great circle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use great circle in a sentence

  • Other views had been partial: this was a great circle of the heavens and the earth, three hundred miles in circumference!

    Letters from Switzerland | Samuel Irenus Prime

British Dictionary definitions for great circle

great circle

noun
  1. a circular section of a sphere that has a radius equal to that of the sphere: Compare small circle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for great circle

great circle

  1. A circle on the surface of a sphere whose plane passes through the center of the sphere. The Earth's equator is a great circle on the sphere of the globe.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.