- the great circle of the earth with a latitude of 0°, lying equidistant from the poles; dividing the N and S hemispheres
- a circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two equal symmetrical parts
- See magnetic equator
- See celestial equator
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
e•qua•tor /ɪˈkweɪtɚ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Geographyan imaginary line that is thought of as circling the earth and is the same distance from the North Pole and South Pole.
e•qua•tor
(i kwā′tər),USA pronunciation n.
- Geography, Place Namesthe great circle on a sphere or heavenly body whose plane is perpendicular to the axis, equidistant everywhere from the two poles of the sphere or heavenly body.
- Geographythe great circle of the earth that is equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole.
- a circle separating a surface into two congruent parts.
- AstronomySee celestial equator.
- Medieval Latin aequātor, Latin: equalizer (of day and night, as when the sun crosses the equator). See equate, -tor
- Middle English 1350–1400
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
equator /ɪˈkweɪtə/ n
'equator' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
aclinic line
- Antarctic Circle
- Arctic Circle
- armillary sphere
- Bantu
- celestial equator
- declination
- doldrums
- ecliptic
- equatorial
- equinoctial
- equinoctial circle
- equinoctial point
- Great Red Spot
- hemisphere
- high
- hour
- Howland Island
- latitude
- line
- low
- magnetic
- magnetic equator
- mean sun
- Mercator projection
- meridian
- northern hemisphere
- obliquity
- parallel
- polliwog
- Pontianak
- Quito
- right ascension
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- season
- shellback
- Somaliland
- South Seas
- southern hemisphere
- stationary orbit
- summer solstice
- thermal equator
- trade wind
- tropic
- tropopause
- troposphere
- vernal equinox
- Virgo
- zenithal projection
- Amazonis