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antipodal

antipodal

1 9.9
On the opposite side of the Earth from another place
  • adjective
  • /ænˈtɪpədəl/
translation icon : antipodal
  • Marking the double centennial of the completion of the Statue of Liberty and the Haymarket trial that month, these antipodal events gave a poignant edge to the deliberations of immigrant and labor historians.
  • maximum from the antipodal

Examples

  • The name Antipodes was chosen to reflect the island's position, which is almost exactly opposite, or antipodal to, Greenwich, England.

    Academic text (1995)
  • In this way, involuntary minorities perceive acculturation or assimilation to U.S. mainstream society as antipodal to their interests and relative position.

    Academic text (2001)
  • As we have seen, in order to truly appreciate the novel's interpretive potential, one must view these seemingly antipodal elements as inextricably linked and pay careful attention to "the fundamental continuity between the subjective and the ideological" (148).

    Academic text (2018)
  • A pair of points are antipodal if they are diametrically opposite each other.

  • For example, New York City's antipodal point is in the Indian Ocean, just southwest of Perth, Australia.

  • San Francisco's antipodal point is southeast of Madagascar, off the African coast.

Synonyms

antithetical
vsantipodal
12 8.4

Directly opposed in beliefs or purpose

describes literal opposite positions on Earth rather than opposing ideas
antipodean
vsantipodal
  • UK
1 9.9

About places on the opposite side of the Earth, often Australia or New Zealand

is the neutral geographic word not mainly used for Australia and New Zealand

Compounds

antipodal opposition
  • Specialized
9.9

A relation between two points directly opposite each other on a sphere or circle

Surface Forms

antipodal positive

Morphology

antipodal = antipode (transparent) = antipode + al

The adjective is formed regularly from the noun 'antipode' with the productive suffix '-al', and the meaning follows directly from that base.

Etymology

Antipodal comes from the Greek parts anti- meaning 'opposite' and -pod meaning 'foot'. So antipodal describes places that are on exactly opposite sides of the Earth, as if their 'feet' were pointing away from each other.