Adjacent Words

locus definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the scene of any event or action (especially the place of a meeting) [syn: venue, locale, locus]
2: the specific site of a particular gene on its chromosome
3: the set of all points or lines that satisfy or are determined by specific conditions; "the locus of points equidistant from a given point is a circle"

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural loci) Etymology: Latin — more at stall Date: 1715 1. a. the place where something is situated or occurs ; site, location <was the culture of medicine in the beginning dispersed from a single focus or did it arise in several loci? — S. C. Harvey> b. a center of activity, attention, or concentration <in democracy the locus of power is in the people — H. G. Rickover> 2. the set of all points whose location is determined by stated conditions 3. the position in a chromosome of a particular gene or allele

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. loci) 1 a position or point, esp. in a text, treatise, etc. 2 Math. a curve etc. formed by all the points satisfying a particular equation of the relation between coordinates, or by a point, line, or surface moving according to mathematically defined conditions. 3 Biol. the position of a gene, mutation, etc. on a chromosome. Etymology: L, = place

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Locus Lo"cus, n.; pl. Loci, & Loca. [L., place. Cf. Allow, Couch, Lieu, Local.] 1. A place; a locality. 2. (Math.) The line traced by a point which varies its position according to some determinate law; the surface described by a point or line that moves according to a given law. Plane locus, a locus that is a straight line, or a circle. Solid locus, a locus that is one of the conic sections.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(loci) The locus of something is the place where it happens or the most important area or point with which it is associated. (FORMAL) Barcelona is the locus of Spanish industry... N-COUNT: usu sing, N of n

Moby Thesaurus

abode, area, bearings, bench mark, district, emplacement, hole, latitude and longitude, lieu, locale, locality, location, pinpoint, place, placement, point, position, region, site, situation, situs, spot, station, stead, where, whereabout, whereabouts