sextant

noun sex·tant \ ˈsek-stənt \

|Updated on: 27 May 2018

Definition of sextant

: an instrument for measuring angular distances used especially in navigation to observe altitudes of celestial bodies (as in ascertaining latitude and longitude)

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Recent Examples of sextant from the Web

Note that with my DIY sextant (and most others), the string would point to a value on the protractor that is not the angle above the horizon.

— rhett allain, WIRED, "Figure Out Where You Are With Nothing But a Watch and Protractor," 3 May 2018
Sure, a protractor works, but a sextant does this even better.

— rhett allain, WIRED, "Figure Out Where You Are With Nothing But a Watch and Protractor," 3 May 2018
In 2016, the sextant used by Carpathia's captain sold for just under $97,000.

— james rogers, Fox News, "Rare Titanic rescue letters surface," 19 Apr. 2018
Anyway, the trailer has everything — romance, action, tragedy, big CGI waves, Shailene Woodley using a sextant, etc.

— eliza thompson, Cosmopolitan, "The First Trailer for Shailene Woodley's Sailboat Survival Movie Is Here and Great," 14 Mar. 2018
Instead, long-distance sailing was done by relying on the position of stars and use of sextants.

— danielle rossingh, CNN, "Donald Crowhurst: Sailor's mystery disappearance inspires two movies," 13 Mar. 2018
Thus, Portland is considering creating a sixth sextant.

— andrew theen, OregonLive.com, "Sixth Sextant? City considering changing thousands of addresses to 'South Portland'," 28 Feb. 2018
Back in 1940, partial human remains were found on Gardner near the remnants of a campfire, along with an empty sextant box and pieces of a woman's shoe.

— paula mclain, Town & Country, "What Really Happened to Amelia Earhart?," 17 Jan. 2017
Yet here was a guy in harm’s way trying to find his way in a war zone with something about as easy to use as a sextant.

— scott canon, kansascity.com, "Digital Life: Navigating a remake of federal cybersecurity," 15 May 2017

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