topograph means A monument erected in a high place, such as a hilltop, indicating the direction and distance of notable landscape features which can be seen with the naked eye from that point. It carries an Arena rating of 1399, earned across 16 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, topograph ranks #2,476 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #3,268 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,277 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #3,946 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “topograph” is a great word
TOPOGRAPH — [Noun] A monument erected on a high point, such as a hilltop, that indicates the direction and distance to notable landscape features visible from that location. From the combining form topo- (from Ancient Greek τόπος (tópos, "place")) and -graph (from Ancient Greek -γράφος (-gráphos, "writer" or "thing that writes/records")). First attested in 1833. Unlike a topographic map—a portable, abstract rendering for calculation—or an obelisk—a commemorative monolith pointing only skyward—a topograph is a fixed, didactic artifact for the body in situ. It is the brass plate, weathered green, its arrow engraved toward a distant mountain pass; the stone pillar on a windswept tor, its facets naming valleys and rivers; the concrete dial aligning the viewer's gaze with a spire, a bridge, a far-off sea. It is a conversation between one place and all the others, a stationary guide that makes a panorama legible and quietly insists that to see is also to be oriented.
Etymology
From topo- + -graph.
noun
- A monument erected in a high place, such as a hilltop, indicating the direction and distance of notable landscape features which can be seen with the naked eye from that point.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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