Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Solstice |
SolsticeNoun1. Either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "solstice" was first used: sometime around 1250. (references) |
Etymology: Solstice \Sol"stice\, noun[Latin solstitium; sol the sun sistere to cause to stand, akin to stare to stand: compare to the French expression solstice. See Solar, adjective, Stand, intransitive verb.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | 1. One of the two points of the ecliptic farthest from the celestial equator; one of the two points on the celestial sphere occupied by the sun at maximum declination. That in the northern hemisphere is called the summer solstice and that in the southern hemisphere the winter solstice. Also called solstitial point.2. That instant at which the sun reaches one of the solstices, about June 21 (summer solstice) or December 22 (winter solstice). (references) |
Energy | The two times of the year when the sun is apparently farthest north and south of the earth's equator; usually occurring on or around June 21 (summer solstice in northern hemisphere, winter solstice for southern hemisphere) and December 21 (winter solstice in northern hemisphere, summer solstice for the southern hemisphere). (references) |
Geography | The time of maximum or minimum declination of the sun when, for a few days, the altitude of the sun at noon shows no appreciable change from day to day. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Solstice (2 syl.). The summer solstice is June 21st; the winter solstice is December 22nd; so called because, on arriving at the corresponding points of the ecliptic, the sun is stopped and made to approach the equator again. (Latin, sol sistil or stat, the sun stops.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Space | The time of the year when the Sun's position is the sky is most distant from the celestial equator. To a good approximation, north of the equator the day (around June 21) and the night (around December 21) are at their longest at the summer and winter solstices, and that is when those seasons are assumed to begin (the dates themselves, however, are known as midsummer day and midwinter day, respectively). Summer north of the equator coincides with winter south of it (and vice versa), and solstice names are also interchanged there. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Crosswords: Solstice |
| English words defined with "solstice": Autumnal signs ♦ Jan, January ♦ Solstitial, sun dance, Sunsted ♦ Vernal signs ♦ Winter solstice. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "solstice": Christmas Trees ♦ December solstice ♦ first point of Cancer, first point of Capricornus ♦ Halcyon Days ♦ June solstice ♦ solstitial point, Southern Gate of the Sun. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "solstice": Lunistice ♦ Tropic. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Solstice" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (solstice). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The Druids, winter solstice, Hannakah, the Romans converted Saternali into Christmas. (Millennium; writing credit: Eric Knight) | |
Lyrics | The time is with the month of winter solstice (Chapter 24; performing artist: Pink Floyd) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | At this time of the solstice, the light of the full moon is, so to speak, piercing. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Solstice" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 81.25% of the time. "Solstice" is used about 32 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 81.25% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Noun (proper) | 18.75% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 32 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "solstice": summer solstice ♦ winter solstice. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "solstice"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | solstik. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | إنقلاب الشمس في الصيف, إنقلاب الشمس في الشتاء. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | слънцестоене. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 至日. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | slunovrat (tropic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | solhvervspunkt, solhverv (solstices). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | solstitium, zonnewende, zonnestilstandpunt, zonnekeerpunt. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | نقطه انقلاب , تحویل (Delivery, Rendition, Transfer), تحول (Evolution, Mutation, Upheaval, Vicissitude). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | päivänseisaus (solstices). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | solstice. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Sonnenwende (solstices). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ηλιοστάσιο. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מפ " "שמש. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | napforduló. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | solstizio. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 半夏" (11th day after the summer solstice, last seed-sowing day), 冬至 (winter solstice), 夏至点 (summer solstice), 夏至 (summer solstice), 夏至 (summer solstice). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | 'して" (summer solstice), 'し (summer solstice), は"'しょう (11th day after the summer solstice, last seed-sowing day), とうじ (at that time, chief brewer at a sake brewery, clay, formal reply, funeral address, governing, government, hot-spring cure, housekeeper, in those days, lady, libertine, matron, matter under concern, message of condolence, mistress, reign, rule, taking the baths, winter solstice, words of condolence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 지 (POST, Post-). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | shass greiney. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | olsticesay solstício. (various references) solstiţiu. (various references) солнцестояние. (various references) solsticijum, kratkodnevnica. (various references) solsticio. (various references) solstånd. (various references) gece ile gündüzün eşit olduğu gün, gündönümü (equinox, solstitial). (various references) сонцестояння, точка сонцестояння, кульмінація (climax, culmination). (various references) điểm chí. (various references) alban (equinox). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | solstitium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "solstice": solstices. (additional references) | |
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"Solstice" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: salsiccia, Seslice, solctice, solestice, solistice, solitice, solstace, solstics, solstise, soltace, soltice, sostice. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "solstice" (pronounced sô"lsti's) |
| 3 | -t i' s | botrytis, clematis, fortis, intis, mantis, Metis, phlebitis, practice, Prentice. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: solecist. | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-i-l-o-s-s-t" | |
-1 letter: citoles, closest, closets, cosiest, ossicle. | |
-2 letters: cestoi, cestos, citole, closes, closet, colies, cosets, cosies, cosset, escots, islets, istles, slices, sliest, socles, stelic, stiles, stoics, stoles, toiles. | |
-3 letters: ceils, celts, cesti, cists, cites, clits, close, clots, coils, coles, colts, coses, coset, cosie, costs, cotes, escot, isles, islet, istle, lists, loess, loses, lotic, oleic, scots. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-i-l-o-s-s-t" | |
+1 letter: cloisters, coistrels, colitises, costliest, solecists, solstices. | |
+2 letters: actionless, clitorises, cloistress, coastlines, colpitises, costliness, dislocates, ecologists, livestocks, mislocates, oscillates, scapolites, sclerotics, sclerotins, scolecites, sectionals, selections, slouchiest, socialites, solecistic, stockpiles. | |
+3 letters: cacomistles, callosities, captionless, cetologists, cholestasis, chrysolites, chrysotiles, clingstones, closefisted, clothespins, colostomies, coltishness, comestibles, completists, courtliness, escalations, inosculates, polemicists, politicises, scatologies, schooltimes, socialities, solicitudes, splotchiest, stockpilers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 6F 6C 73 74 69 63 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... --- .-.. ... - .. -.-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01101111 01101100 01110011 01110100 01101001 01100011 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S o l s t i c e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 006F 006C 0073 0074 0069 0063 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5381788586756971 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
