horizon
/həˈɹaɪ.zən/ noun
Forms horizons
- noun The visible horizontal line (in all directions) where the sky appears to meet the earth in the distance. “A tall building was visible on the whole sweep of the horizon.”
- noun (figuratively) The range or limit of one's knowledge, experience or interest; a boundary or threshold. “Some students take a gap year after finishing high school to broaden their horizons.”
- noun The range or limit of any dimension in which one exists.
- noun (geology) A specific layer of soil, or stratum
- noun (archaeology, chiefly US) A cultural sub-period or level within a more encompassing time period.
- noun Any level line or surface.
- noun (computer chess) The point at which a computer chess algorithm stops searching for further moves.
Synonyms
skysill skyline apparent horizon visible horizon sensible horizon view purview celestial horizon
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English orisonte, orisoun, from Middle French horizon, horizonte, from Old French orisonte, orison, via Latin horizōn, from Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The circle which bounds that part of the earth's surface visible to a spectator from a given point; the apparent junction of the earth and sky. And when the morning sun shall raise his car Above the border of this horizon. Shak.
- noun (a) A plane passing through the eye of the spectator and at right angles to the vertical at a given place; a plane tangent to the earth's surface at that place; called distinctively the sensible horizon.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “horizon”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details