tripoli
tripoli Lexical Profile
tripoli Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The capital and largest city of Libya, situated in North Africa along the Mediterranean coast.
A major port city in northern Lebanon, located in Western Asia along the eastern Mediterranean coast, renowned for its crusader castle and Mamluk architecture.
A fine, porous siliceous earth used primarily as a mild abrasive or polishing powder for metals and stones.
"The jeweler used a buffing wheel coated with tripoli to remove fine scratches from the brass pendant."
Word Nuance & Usage
Capitalize 'Tripoli' when referring to the cities in Libya or Lebanon; use the lowercase 'tripoli' when referring to the siliceous polishing powder.
• Rhymes for tripoli
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the Greek 'Tripolis', meaning 'three cities' (from 'tri-', three, and 'polis', city), originally referring to federations of three settlements in both North Africa and the Levant. The abrasive powder is named after the North African city where it was historically sourced.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.