geography

noun — 10 senses

geography

noun

UK /dʒiˈɒɡɹəfi/ · US /d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/

Etymology From Middle French géographie, from Latin geōgraphia, from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία (geōgraphía, “a description of the earth”), from γῆ (gê, “earth”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write”). Doublet of geographia. Use in reference to lavatories derives from the mid-20th century euphemism "show one the geography of the house" in reference to pointing out the toilets.

10 senses
  1. 1The study of the physical properties of the earth…
  2. 2An atlas or gazetteer.
  3. 3A description of the earth: a treatise or textbook on geography.
  4. 4Terrain: the physical properties of a region of the earth.
  5. 5Any subject considered in terms of its physical distribution.
  6. 6Similar books, studies, or regions concerning other planets.
  7. 7The physical arrangement of any place, particularly (UK…
  8. 8The lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.
  9. 9The relative arrangement of the parts of anything.
  10. 10A territory: a geographical area as a field of business…
1

The study of the physical properties of the earth, including how humans affect and are affected by them.

  • Some amount of basic geography is part of any good curriculum for primary and secondary education.
  • These days, instead of going off behind the bike shed during recess to learn about sex, kids need to sneak behind the bike shed to do a little bit of closeted geography or closeted Latin.2021, Mark Steyn, “Our Increasingly Unrecognizable Civilization”, in Imprimis, volume 50, number 4/5, Hillsdale College, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
2

Archaic An atlas or gazetteer.

3

Archaic A description of the earth: a treatise or textbook on geography.

  • Geographie is (according to Ptolomei) an imitation of the picture of the vvhole Earth. […] VVe take not the Earth ſimply in its ovvn nature as it is an element, for ſo it belongeth to Philoſophy, but for the terreſtrial Globe, ſo it is the ſubiect of Geographie, and is defined to bee a Sphericall body, proportionably compoſed of earth, and vvater.1621, P[eter] H[eylyn], “The Generall Præcognita of Geographie. Terra.”, in Microcosmus, or A Little Description of the Great World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Litchfield, and Iames Short printers to the famous Universitie, →OCLC, page 1:
4

Terrain: the physical properties of a region of the earth.

  • The geography of the Andes approaches never made transportation easy; routes to Bogota, Quito, La Paz, and Cuzco were so precipitous as to slow down the development of those Spanish cities in the interior.1973, Helen Miller Bailey, Abraham Phineas Nasatir, Latin America: the development of its civilization:
5

Any subject considered in terms of its physical distribution.

6

Astronomy, Natural sciences Similar books, studies, or regions concerning other planets.

7

The physical arrangement of any place, particularly (UK, slang) a house.

8

Euphemistic The lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.

Chiefly upper-class UK

  • The Business Man Jocular: ‘I say, where's the geography, old son?’1967 December 21, The Listener, page 802:
9

Figuratively The relative arrangement of the parts of anything.

  • The actual geography of the murderous mind is still a mystery.
10

Business, Marketing A territory: a geographical area as a field of business or market sector.

  • We currently operate only in EU countries but we're building prototype services for various geographies.
Synonyms
loo, geography
Derived terms
49 termsaerogeography, anthropogeography, astrogeography, biogeography, cytogeography, ecogeographic, ecogeographical, ecogeography, ethnogeography, exogeography, galactography, geographer, geographic, geographical, geographism, geographist, geographize, geography bee, geography cone, geography fair, geographylike, human geography, hydrogeography, ichthyogeography, macrogeography, microgeography, mythogeography, mytho-geography, neogeography, neurogeography, nongeography, nosogeography, ornithogeography, palaeogeography, paleogeography, pathogeography, pedogeography, phenogeography, phylogeography, physical geography, physiogeography, phytogeography, political geography, psychogeography, pyrogeography, sociogeography, xenogeography, zoogeography, zoögeography
Related terms
44 termsEarth, landform, map, atlas, gazetteer, latitude, longitude, altitude, settlement, continent, subcontinent, island, mountain, valley, body of water, ocean, river, lake, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, North America, South America, Eurasia, Europe, Asia, Nearctic, Palearctic, Afrotropic, Indomalaya, Australasia, Neotropic, Oceania, Antarctic, city, town, village, bridge, road, tunnel, country, administrative division, geographer, cartographer
Hypernyms
science
Holonyms
earth science
Meronyms
human geography, physical geography, geomorphology, biogeography, climatology, meteorology, pedology, palaeogeography

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.