locus
Americannoun
plural
loci, loca-
a place; locality.
-
a center or source, as of activities or power.
locus of control.
-
Mathematics. the set of all points, lines, or surfaces that satisfy a given requirement.
-
Genetics. the chromosomal position of a gene as determined by its linear order relative to the other genes on that chromosome.
noun
-
(in many legal phrases) a place or area, esp the place where something occurred
-
maths a set of points whose location satisfies or is determined by one or more specified conditions
the locus of points equidistant from a given point is a circle
-
genetics the position of a particular gene on a chromosome
plural
loci-
The set or configuration of all points whose coordinates satisfy a single equation or one or more algebraic conditions.
-
The position that a given gene occupies on a chromosome.
Etymology
Origin of locus
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin; Old Latin stlocus “a place”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But in-home care was a locus of one alleged Minnesota fraud scheme.
Shortly after administration, levels of dopamine and its precursor levodopa increased, along with norepinephrine and its metabolite normetanephrine in the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline network.
From Science Daily
The barber chair, the locus of Sweeney’s revenge on the heartless cruelty of a Victorian London that wrecked his life, isn’t the elaborate contraption of other productions.
From Los Angeles Times
Would Washingtonians rather live next to a structure that looks like a gigantic Martian spaceship or a work of beauty that reflects the genius loci, the spirit of the place?
It also happens to be the locus of the dictatorship’s power.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
