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What is the difference between altitude and elevation?

altitude | elevation |

As nouns the difference between altitude and elevation

is that altitude is the absolute height of a location, usually measured from sea level while elevation is the act of raising from a lower place, condition, or quality to a higher; said of material things, persons, the mind, the voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain; elevation to a throne; elevation to sainthood; elevation of mind, thoughts, or character.

altitude

Noun

(en noun)
  • The absolute height of a location, usually measured from sea level.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes , there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
  • A vertical distance.
  • (geometry) The distance measured perpendicularly from a figure's vertex to the opposite side of the vertex.
  • (astronomy) The angular distance of a heavenly body above our Earth's horizon.
  • Height of rank or excellence; superiority.
  • (Jonathan Swift)
  • (dated, in the plural) Elevation of spirits; heroics; haughty airs.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • The man of law began to get into his altitudes .
    (Richardson)
  • Highest point or degree.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He is [proud] even to the altitude of his virtue.

    Anagrams

    * latitude ----

    elevation

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of raising from a lower place, condition, or quality to a higher; said of material things, persons, the mind, the voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain; elevation to a throne; elevation to sainthood; elevation of mind, thoughts, or character.
  • The condition of being or feeling elevated; heightened; exaltation.
  • That which is raised up or elevated; an elevated place or station; as, an elevation of the ground; a hill.
  • The distance of a celestial object above the horizon, or the arc of a vertical circle intercepted between it and the horizon; altitude; as, the elevation of the pole, or of a star.
  • The angle which the style makes with the substylar line.
  • The movement of the axis of a piece in a vertical plane; also, the angle of elevation, that is, the angle between the axis of the piece and the line of sight; distinguished from direction.
  • (lb) A geometrical projection of a building, or other object, on a plane perpendicular to the horizon; orthographic projection on a vertical plane; called by the ancients the orthography.
  • (lb) The raising of the —representing Christ’s body—in a mass or Holy Communion service.
  • Antonyms

    * disgust * demotion * depression * diminishment * reduction