locus

noun lo·cus \ ˈlō-kəs \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of locus

plural loci play \ˈlō-ˌsī, -ˌkī, -ˌkē\

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

See locus defined for English-language learners

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Examples of locus in a Sentence

The area became a locus of resistance to the government.
an area of the Southwest that has been the locus of a number of New Agey movements

Recent Examples of locus from the Web

In time, users transformed Twitter into a locus of quarrel and toxicity.

— jason parham, WIRED, "Facebook and the Price of Tech Utopia," 10 Apr. 2018
Gōken sits in Jedi-like calm at the locus of a nascent transnational subculture: gamers who approach fighting games as martial arts.

— chris goto-jones, The Atlantic, "Practicing for Enlightenment With Video Games," 27 Mar. 2018
And regulators in Arizona, the locus of Uber’s testing, have taken little action to protect residents despite those worrying signals.

— david z. morris, Fortune, "At Uber, Troubling Signs Were Rampant Long Before a Fatal Self-Driving Crash," 24 Mar. 2018
People just flocked to it because there had been no locus for the literary life.

— john mcmurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle, "Ferlinghetti speaks out at 99, his voice as vital as ever," 21 Mar. 2018
His career coincided with the decline of downtown neighborhoods as the locus of American social life.

— emily langer, Washington Post, "John C. Portman Jr., architect who re-envisioned the modern hotel, dies at 93," 2 Jan. 2018
Trump’s critics tend to think patriotism itself is atavistic, or that its locus should be only in our ideals.

— rich lowry, National Review, "Yes, Throw a Parade," 9 Feb. 2018
Taking the war between India and Pakistan in 1947 as its locus, the work ruptures over and over with each turn to a different cut of Kanwar’s documentary film.

— Vogue, "At the Tate Modern, Optimism Grows Underground," 12 Jan. 2018
Steppenwolf Theatre was a prime locus for the exploration of SWA suckiness this year—interestingly, inasmuch as its founders and current artistic director are all SWAs themselves.

— tony adler, Chicago Reader, "Straight white Americans are the worst, according to Chicago theaters," 21 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'locus.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of locus

Latin — more at stall

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1648

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

locus Synonyms

Synonyms

axis, base, capital, center, central, core, cynosure, epicenter, eye, focus, ground zero, heart, hub, mecca, navel, nerve center, nucleus, seat;

Related Words

headquarters;

happy hunting ground, hive, hotbed, hot spot, playground, playland;

kernel, nub, pith;

deep, thick;

essence, quintessence, soul;

attraction, lodestone (also loadstone), magnet, polestar;

Phrases

where it's at;

Other Mathematics and Statistics Terms

abscissa, denominator, divisor, equilateral, exponent, hypotenuse, logarithm, oblique, radii, rhomb

LOCUS Defined for English Language Learners

locus

noun

Definition of locus for English Language Learners

: a central or main place where something happens or is found

Medical Dictionary

locus

noun lo·cus \ ˈlō-kəs \

medical Definition of locus

plural loci \ˈlō-ˌsī, -ˌkī also -ˌkē\

1 : a place or site of an event, activity, or thing

the integrity of the tissues determines the extent and locus of the damage
—Sylvia E. Hines

2 : the position in a chromosome of a particular gene or allele

Law Dictionary

locus

noun lo·cus \ ˈlō-kəs \

legal Definition of locus

: the place connected with a particular event having legal significance

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See words that rhyme with locus Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for locus Nglish: Translation of locus for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of locus for Arabic speakers

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locus

Definition of locus

Examples of locus in a Sentence

Recent Examples of locus from the Web

Origin and Etymology of locus

locus Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Phrases

Other Mathematics and Statistics Terms

LOCUS Defined for English Language Learners

locus

Definition of locus for English Language Learners

Medical Dictionary

locus

medical Definition of locus

Law Dictionary

locus

legal Definition of locus

Learn More about locus

Seen and Heard

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