Illustration of sextant
sextant
noun
sex·tant
ˈsek-stənt 
: an instrument for measuring angular distances used especially in navigation to observe altitudes of celestial bodies (as in ascertaining latitude and longitude)
Examples of sextant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Black Spy stares at the moon through an elaborate sextant, adjusting various settings and making mental calculations, finally drawing an X on the ground with a compass before setting the bucket down.
—
Gyasi Hall, Longreads, 12 Sep. 2023
But otherwise, the astronauts’ situation was similar enough to that of Earthly sailors to use similar technology, which means instead of a marine sextant, astronauts used a space sextant.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2019
The sextant used by the captain of the rescue ship Carpathia sold for just under $97,000 in 2016.
—James Rogers, Fox News, 1 Nov. 2020
The space sextant had two lines of sight, one fixed and one movable.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2019
Chow's sextant, a navigation instrument that measured celestial objects and the horizon -- the only navigation device at that time -- was useless.
—Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN, 23 Aug. 2021
The astrodome included a hanging point for a sextant so navigators would not have to hold the weighty instrument.
—David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2021
For centuries, using a sextant, a sailor could mark a ship’s location by making a few calculations to determine a star’s position relative to the horizon.
—David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2021
One, a rally in the Northeast sextant’s King School Park.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2020
Gyasi Hall, Longreads, 12 Sep. 2023
But otherwise, the astronauts’ situation was similar enough to that of Earthly sailors to use similar technology, which means instead of a marine sextant, astronauts used a space sextant.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2019
The sextant used by the captain of the rescue ship Carpathia sold for just under $97,000 in 2016.
—James Rogers, Fox News, 1 Nov. 2020
The space sextant had two lines of sight, one fixed and one movable.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2019
Chow's sextant, a navigation instrument that measured celestial objects and the horizon -- the only navigation device at that time -- was useless.
—Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN, 23 Aug. 2021
The astrodome included a hanging point for a sextant so navigators would not have to hold the weighty instrument.
—David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2021
For centuries, using a sextant, a sailor could mark a ship’s location by making a few calculations to determine a star’s position relative to the horizon.
—David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2021
One, a rally in the Northeast sextant’s King School Park.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sextant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Sextant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sextant. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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sextant
noun
sex·tant
ˈsek-stənt
: a navigational instrument for measuring the angle between the horizon and the sun or a star in order to find out the latitude (as of a ship)
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