Nearctic

[ nee-ahrk-tik, -ahr- ]

adjective

, Biogeography.

1. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising temperate Greenland and Arctic North America, sometimes including high mountainous regions of the northern Temperate Zone.

Nearctic

/ nɪˈɑːktɪk /

adjective

1. of or denoting a zoogeographical region consisting of North America, north of the tropic of Cancer, and Greenland

Word History and Origins

Origin of Nearctic¹

First recorded in 1855–60; ne- + Arctic

Example Sentences

One of the most durable myths that shapes the thinking about us is that we began living lives of untrammeled freedom and complete autonomy in the Nearctic garden and we fundamentally ended as people when the frontier was closed — that North America begins with Indians and America truly begins once we’re gone.

From New York Times

Taylor for fillies and mares, and British-bred Caspar Netscher took the Grade 2 $300,000 Nearctic Stakes.

From Washington Times

The northernmost stretches of the Canadian tundra make more sense grouped with the Palearctic realm, which encompasses Siberia, Europe and North Asia, than with North America's Nearctic realm.

From New York Times

Study of the taxonomic resemblance shows that the dividing line, in eastern M�xico, between Nearctic and Neotropical faunas is along the eastern base of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the southern base of the Sierra de Tamaulipas and thence to the coast at or near Soto la Marina.

From Project Gutenberg

Of the remaining 24 genera, 16 occur in the North American part of the Nearctic Subregion or in it and the part of northern M�xico north of the Brazilian boundary, whereas eight occur in the Brazilian Subregion or in it and the northern part of M�xico.

From Project Gutenberg