north-south direction
- noun
:
dirección norte-sur
- The executioners employed heavy earth-moving equipment to dig 10 mass graves ahead of time, each of which was oriented in the same north-south direction.
Examples
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Other experiments average over the north-south direction and detect only modes with patterns resembling the shape of a peeled orange.
Academic text (1991) -
As Table II shows, the aspect of the units is mainly east-west, due to the north-south direction of the watershed.
Academic text (2002) -
Because of its elliptical shape, the virtual telescope has a higher resolution in the east-west direction than in the north-south direction.
Academic text (1996) -
Interstate Highway 15 crosses through Salt Lake City in a north-south direction, and scenic Interstate Highway 80 parallels Great Salt Lake's south shore and crosses through the city in an east-west direction.
Academic text (2005) -
It is narrowest to the east—three miles—where it takes a north-south direction and becomes the Strait of Singapore.
Academic text (2007) -
Interstate Highway 15 runs through Salt Lake City in a north-south direction.
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The river flows in a north-south direction, creating a natural boundary between the two countries.
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The hiking trail is marked to guide walkers heading in a north-south direction through the forest.
Surface Forms
Morphology
north-south + direction
The phrase is a transparent compositional description: combining the cardinal directions 'north' and 'south' with 'direction' clearly yields a heading that runs from north to south. This pattern (e.g. 'north–south', 'east–west') is cross-linguistically common and easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
North-south direction gives a simple map picture: imagine a line that goes from north (top) to south (bottom), like a road that runs straight down a map. So, it means 'a line or path that runs from north to south, parallel to the long vertical lines on a globe'.
