horizon
/həˈɹaɪ.zən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.07 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The visible horizontal line (in all directions) where the sky appears to meet the earth in the distance.
noun
The point at which a computer chess algorithm stops searching for further moves.
Example Sentences
- "A tall building was visible on the whole sweep of the horizon."
- "The sky and sea seem to merge at the horizon."
- "Some students take a gap year after finishing high school to broaden their horizons."
- "With clinical researchers hard at work, a new treatment is on the horizon."
- "It is because theirs has become the only explicit general philosophy of social policy held by a large group, the only system or theory which raises new problems and opens new horizons, that they have succeeded in inspiring the imagination of the intellectual."
- "They learn that reading, besides being something one does at school, is also something one can do on one's own, for fun, to satisfy curiosity, or even to "expand one's horizons.”"
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English orisonte, orisoun, from Middle French horizon, horizonte, from Old French orisonte, orison, via Latin horizōn, from Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: orisonte, horizon, horizōn, ὁρίζων
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /həˈɹaɪ.zən/
- British English: /həˈɹaɪ.zən/
Usage
- American usage