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tropical - 4 dictionary results
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trop⋅i⋅cal

  [trop-i-kuhl for 1–4, 6; troh-pi-kuhl for 5]
Use tropical in a Sentence
–adjective
1. pertaining to, characteristic of, occurring in, or inhabiting the tropics, esp. the humid tropics: tropical flowers.
2. very hot and humid: a tropical climate.
3. designed for use in the tropics or in very hot weather (often used in combination): tropical-weight woolens.
4. of or pertaining to either or both of the astronomical tropics.
5. pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a trope or tropes; metaphorical.
–noun
6. tropicals, lightweight clothing, suitable for warm, esp. summer weather.
Origin:
1520–30; tropic + -al 1

Related forms:
trop⋅i⋅cal⋅i⋅ty, noun
trop⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trope   (trōp)   
n.  
  1. A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.
  2. A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies.

[Latin tropus, from Greek tropos, turn, figure of speech; see trep- in Indo-European roots.]
trop'i·cal (trō'pĭ-kəl) adj.
trop·i·cal   (trŏp'ĭ-kəl)   
adj.  
  1. Of, occurring in, or characteristic of the Tropics.
  2. Hot and humid; torrid.
n.  A tropical plant.
trop'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Tropical

Trop"ic*al\, a. [Cf. L. tropicus of turning, Gr. ?. See Tropic, n.]

1. Of or pertaining to the tropics; characteristic of, or incident to, the tropics; being within the tropics; as, tropical climate; tropical latitudes; tropical heat; tropical diseases.

2. [From Trope.] Rhetorically changed from its exact original sense; being of the nature of a trope; figurative; metaphorical. --Jer. Taylor.

The foundation of all parables is some analogy or similitude between the tropical or allusive part of the parable and the thing intended by it. --South.

Tropic month. See Lunar month, under Month.

Tropic year, the solar year; the period occupied by the sun in passing from one tropic or one equinox to the same again, having a mean length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46.0 seconds, which is 20 minutes, 23.3 seconds shorter than the sidereal year, on account of the precession of the equinoxes.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : tropical
Spanish: tropical,
German: tropisch,
Japanese: 熱帯の
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