hemisphere

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: hem=i=sphere

CIDE DICTIONARY

hemisphere, n. [L. hemisphaerium, Gr. ; half = sphere: cf. F. hémisphère. See Hemi-, and Sphere.].

•  A half sphere; one half of a sphere or globe, when divided by a plane passing through its center.  [1913 Webster]
•  Half of the terrestrial globe, or a projection of the same in a map or picture.  [1913 Webster]
•  The people who inhabit a hemisphere.  [1913 Webster]

  "He died . . . mourned by a hemisphere."  [1913 Webster]

Cerebral hemispheres. (Anat.) See Brain. -- Magdeburg hemispheres (Physics), two hemispherical cups forming, when placed together, a cavity from which the air can be withdrawn by an air pump; -- used to illustrate the pressure of the air. So called because invented by Otto von Guericke at Magdeburg.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hemisphere, n.
1 half of a sphere.
2 a half of the earth, esp. as divided by the equator (into northern and southern hemisphere) or by a line passing through the poles (into eastern and western hemisphere).

Derivative

hemispheric adj. hemispherical adj.

Etymology

OF emisphere & L hemisphaerium f. Gk hemisphaira (as HEMI, SPHERE)

THESAURUS

hemisphere

ambit, arena, bailiwick, beat, border, borderland, circle, circuit, demesne, department, domain, dominion, field, fifty percent, fifty-fifty, half, half-and-half, judicial circuit, jurisdiction, march, mediety, moiety, orb, orbit, pale, precinct, province, realm, round, semicircle, semisphere, sphere, walk

ROGET THESAURUS

hemisphere

Region

N region, sphere, ground, soil, area, field, realm, hemisphere, quarter, district, beat, orb, circuit, circle, reservation, pale, compartment, department, clearing, (property) &c 780 (Government), 1 arena, precincts, enceinte, walk, march, patch, plot, parcel, inclosure, close, field, court, enclave, reserve, preserve, street, clime, climate, zone, meridian, latitude, biosphere, lithosphere, territorial, local, parochial, provincial, regional.