meridional

meridional — adjective

  • meridionalpositive
  • more meridionalcomparative
  • most meridionalsuperlative

1. belonging to or typical of the southern part of a country or region, used especi

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

belonging to or typical of the southern part of a country or region, used especially when describing southern France and the warm, sunlit character of its people and landscape

Example

Rania described the village's meridional rhythm: long lunches, afternoon naps, and lively evenings outdoors.

meridional + noun (rhythm) for southern lifestyle traits

The novel captures a meridional warmth in its kitchens, gardens, and noisy family dinners by the sea.

meridional + abstract noun (warmth) for southern character

Common collocations
  • meridional light
  • meridional accent
  • meridional warmth
  • meridional cooking
  • meridional landscape
Synonyms
  • southern

    everyday neutral word; lacks the cultural and literary flavour

  • austral

    very formal, mostly scientific; refers to the southern hemisphere

  • Mediterranean

    narrower; ties the trait specifically to the Mediterranean region

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

meridional + noun

be + meridional

Usage Note

Mostly used in cultural, literary, or travel writing about France, Italy, or Spain. Subject is usually a noun naming a feature of southern life (light, accent, cooking, rhythm, warmth), not a person directly.

Common Mistakes

He is meridional.
He has a meridional accent.
the adjective normally describes traits or features of southern places, not a person as a whole.
The bus took a meridional route.
The bus took a southbound route.
for plain directions, use 'southern' or 'southbound'; 'meridional' carries a cultural flavour.

2. running in a north–south line, or describing measurements, winds, and motion tha

2.adjectiveC2
Definition

running in a north–south line, or describing measurements, winds, and motion that follow the imaginary north–south lines drawn on a globe between the two poles

Example

The textbook explained meridional winds as air that moves from the equator toward the poles.

meridional + winds, technical geography sense

Putri's research measured meridional heat transport in the Pacific Ocean over the past forty years.

meridional + heat transport (climate-science collocation)

Common collocations
  • meridional wind
  • meridional flow
  • meridional circulation
  • meridional heat transport
  • meridional altitude
Synonyms
  • north–south

    plain everyday equivalent; preferred outside scientific writing

  • longitudinal

    overlaps in geometry but stresses length along an axis, not the polar direction

Antonyms
  • zonal

    describes east–west motion or measurement; the standard scientific opposite

Grammar Patterns

meridional + noun

Usage Note

Specialist term in geography, meteorology, and astronomy. Distinguish from sense 1 by the company it keeps: sense 2 sits next to scientific nouns (winds, flow, transport, altitude); sense 1 sits next to cultural nouns (accent, cooking, warmth).

Common Mistakes

A meridional road from Madrid to Lisbon.
A north
south road from Madrid to Lisbon.' — 'meridional' for direction sounds odd in everyday English; reserve it for scientific contexts.

meridional — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words point south, but they live in very different registers. 'Southern' is the everyday word — neutral, geographic, and equally fine for a bus route or a regional dish ('she spoke with a southern accent'). 'Mediterranean' narrows the area to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea and adds a sunny, food-and-sea flavour: a Mediterranean diet, a Mediterranean climate. 'Austral' is technical, almost exclusively scientific, and refers to the southern hemisphere as a whole (austral summer = December–February). 'Meridional' is the most literary and culturally loaded of the four. It often points to southern France, Italy, or Spain and signals warmth, expressiveness, and a slower pace — 'his paintings glow with meridional light' or 'a meridional town' adds people, accent, and atmosphere on top of plain geography.

southern ↗Mediterranean ↗austral ↗meridional ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • meridional light
  • meridional warmth
  • meridional accent
  • meridional wind
  • meridional flow

Phrases

  • meridional character
  • meridional charm

Prepositions

  • meridional in (character / style)

Etymology

LatinLate LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

From Late Latin 'meridionalis', meaning 'southern', built on Latin 'meridies' — the joining of 'medius' (middle) and 'dies' (day), so literally 'midday'. The link is easy to picture: at noon in the northern hemisphere, the sun sits in the southern sky, so 'noon' and 'south' came to share the same root. The word entered English through Old French around the fifteenth century and has stayed in the formal, literary corner of the language ever since.