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Tropic vs Topic - What's the difference?

tropic | topic |

As nouns the difference between tropic and topic

is that tropic is either of the two parallels of latitude 23°27′north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics while topic is subject; theme; a category or general area of interest.

As adjectives the difference between tropic and topic

is that tropic is of, or relating to the tropics; tropical while topic is topical.

tropic

English

Alternative forms

* (abbreviation) * (obsolete) *

Noun

(en noun)
  • Either of the two parallels of latitude 23°27?north and south of the equator; the farthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead; the boundaries of the torrid zone or tropics.
  • Derived terms

    * Tropic of Cancer * Tropic of Capricorn

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, or relating to the tropics; tropical.
  • (qualifier) hot and humid.
  • (biochemistry) (noncomparative ) Having the quality of indirectly inducing a biological or chemical change in a system or substrate.
  • The binding of oxygen to hemoglobin is allosterically regulated by various tropic factors, such as BPG and acidity.

    Usage notes

    In chemical sense, not to be confused with similar-sounding – the words and concepts are unrelated.Trophic vs. Tropic”, Werner Steinberg, JAMA, May 3, 1952, 149(1), p. 82, doi:10.1001/jama.1952.02930180084027.

    Derived terms

    * intertropical * semitropical * subtropical * subtropics * tropical * Tropic of Cancer * Tropic of Capricorn

    References

    Anagrams

    * *

    topic

    English

    (wikipedia topic)

    Alternative forms

    * topick (obsolete)

    Adjective

  • (l)
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • Subject; theme; a category or general area of interest.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.}}
  • (Internet) Discussion thread.
  • (obsolete) An argument or reason.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
  • contumacious persons, who are not to be fixed by any principles, whom no topics can work upon
  • (obsolete, medicine) An external local application or remedy, such as a plaster, a blister, etc.
  • (Wiseman)

    Synonyms

    * subject

    Derived terms

    * topical * subtopic * off-topic * topic map

    Anagrams

    * * *