polar

Etymology

From Late Latin polāris, equivalent to pole +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊlə(ɹ)
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊ̯lə(ɹ)/, [ˈpʰəʊ̯lə(ɹ)]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ̯lɚ/, [ˈpʰoʊ̯lɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːlaː(ɾ)/

Adjective

polar (not comparable)

1. Of or having a pole or polarity, as:
   1. (geography) Of, relating to, measured from, or referred to a geographic pole (the North Pole or South Pole); within the Arctic or Antarctic circles.
      • 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC:

        After all, to go into outer space is not so much worse, if at all, than a polar expedition.

   2. (space sciences) Of an orbit that passes over, or near, one of these poles.
   3. (chemistry) Having a dipole; ionic.
   4. (mathematics) Of a coordinate system, specifying the location of a point in a plane by using a radius and an angle.
   5. (linguistics, of a question) Having but two possible answers, yes and no.
   6. (conceptual analysis) Of or relating to a pole (extreme) on any spectrum or field, such as an ideologically pure dogmatic position as opposed to any syncretic integration or balancing of competing principles.

      polar viewpoints

Noun

polar (plural polars)

1. (geometry) The line joining the points of contact of tangents drawn to meet a curve from a point called the pole of the line.

Anagrams

• ROLAP, parol, poral

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [puˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [poˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [poˈlaɾ]

Adjective

polar m or f (masculine and feminine plural polars)

1. polar

Further reading

• “polar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “polar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “polar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “polar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

From pol(icier) +‎ -ard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.laʁ/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

polar m (plural polars)

1. (informal) detective novel

Further reading

• “polar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈlaɾ/ [poˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Hyphenation: po‧lar

Adjective

polar m or f (plural polares)

1. polar

   Antonym: apolar

Further reading

• “polar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈlaːɐ̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

polar (strong nominative masculine singular polarer, not comparable)

1. polar

Further reading

• “polar” in Duden online
• “polar” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Etymology

From the noun pol.

Adjective

polar (neuter singular polart, definite singular and plural polare)

1. polar

References

• “polar” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology 1

From the noun pol.

Etymology 2

References

• “polar” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.lar/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔlar
• Syllabification: po‧lar

Noun

polar m inan

1. fleece, polar fleece
2. garment made from polar fleece

Further reading

• polar in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• polar in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Pronunciation

• Homophone: pular (Portugal)
• Hyphenation: po‧lar

Adjective

polar m or f (plural polares)

1. polar

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin polāris, Italian polare and French polaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈlar/

Adjective

polar m or n (feminine singular polară, masculine plural polari, feminine and neuter plural polare)

1. polar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈlaɾ/ [poˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: po‧lar

Etymology 1

From Late Latin polāris, equivalent to polo +‎ -ar.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English polar fleece.

Further reading

• “polar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Verb

polar

1. present indicative of pola