HOW TO PRONOUNCE
equinox
/ˈɛkwəˌnɑks/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:33
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What does equinox mean?
noun
- One of two times in the year (one in March and the other in September) when the length of the day and the night are equal, which occurs when the sun is directly overhead at the equator; this marks the beginning of spring in one hemisphere and autumn in the other.
- (figuratively) The circumstance of a twenty-four hour time period having the day and night of equal length.
- One of the two points in space where the apparent path of the Sun intersects with the equatorial plane of the Earth.
More meanings (2)
noun
- (obsolete, rare) A gale (“very strong wind”) once thought to occur more frequently around the time of an equinox (sense 1), now known to be a misconception; an equinoctial gale.
- (obsolete) A celestial equator (“great circle on the celestial sphere, coincident with the plane of the Earth's equator (the equatorial plane)”); also, the Earth's equator.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈɛkwəˌnɑks/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
This festival is thought to be coeval with a time when the equinox actually took place at that time.
The season meanwhile was drawing onward to the equinox, and though it was still fine, the days were much shorter.
More book examples (3)
As the days went by and the equinox drew near, auroral phenomena were with few exceptions visible on clear evenings.
Since the September equinox it had emerged from the northern horizon, rising by lengthened spirals up to the 21st of December.
An ascent from Woolwich, arranged as near the equinox of that year as could be managed, supplied some further remarkable results.