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PERPENDICULAR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An extremely steep face
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("perpendicular" is a kind of...):
face (a vertical surface of a building or cliff)
Derivation:
perpendicular (so steep as to be nearly veritcal)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity; used to determine the vertical from a given point
Synonyms:
perpendicular; plumb line
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("perpendicular" is a kind of...):
cord (a line made of twisted fibers or threads)
Meronyms (parts of "perpendicular"):
plumb; plumb bob; plummet (the metal bob of a plumb line)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "perpendicular"):
lead line; sounding line ((nautical) plumb line for determining depth)
plumb rule (a plumb line attached to a narrow board)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting
Synonyms:
English-Gothic; English-Gothic architecture; perpendicular; perpendicular style
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("perpendicular" is a kind of...):
Gothic; Gothic architecture (a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "perpendicular"):
Tudor architecture (a style of English-Gothic architecture popular during the Tudor period; characterized by half-timbered houses)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A straight line at right angles to another line
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("perpendicular" is a kind of...):
straight line (a line traced by a point traveling in a constant direction; a line of zero curvature)
Derivation:
perpendicular (intersecting at or forming right angles)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
So steep as to be nearly veritcal
Example:
the great perpendicular face of the cliff
Classified under:
Similar:
steep (having a sharp inclination)
Derivation:
perpendicular (an extremely steep face)
Sense 2
Meaning:
At right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line
Example:
measure the perpendicular height
Synonyms:
perpendicular; vertical
Classified under:
Similar:
plumb (exactly vertical)
upended (turned up on end)
unsloped; upright (in a vertical position; not sloping)
Also:
straight (having no deviations)
steep (having a sharp inclination)
Attribute:
orientation (position or alignment relative to points of the compass or other specific directions)
Derivation:
perpendicularity (the quality of being at right angles to a given line or plane (especially the plane of the horizon))
perpendicularity (the relation of opposition between things at right angles)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Intersecting at or forming right angles
Example:
the axes are perpendicular to each other
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
normal (forming a right angle)
orthogonal; rectangular (having a set of mutually perpendicular axes; meeting at right angles)
right (having the axis perpendicular to the base)
Antonym:
oblique (slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled)
parallel (being everywhere equidistant and not intersecting)
Derivation:
perpendicular (a straight line at right angles to another line)
perpendicularity (the quality of being at right angles to a given line or plane (especially the plane of the horizon))
perpendicularity (the relation of opposition between things at right angles)
Context examples:
Base pairs are nearly perpendicular to the helix axis and sugar pucker is C2'-endo.
(B-DNA, NCI Thesaurus)
Slanting or inclined in direction or course or position; neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angular.
(Oblique, NCI Thesaurus)
A section created by a plane cutting a solid perpendicular to its longest axis.
(Cross-section, NCI Thesaurus)
Most of the waves are seen in elongated wave trains, spread out in an east-west direction, with wave crests that are perpendicular to the orientation of the train.
(NASA's Juno Mission Detects Jupiter Wave Trains, NASA)
The Hall effect emerges when a magnetic field is applied to a conducting material in a direction perpendicular to a current flow.
(Research reveals exotic quantum states in double-layer graphene, National Science Foundation)
At their backs rose a perpendicular wall of rock, and Perrault and François were compelled to make their fire and spread their sleeping robes on the ice of the lake itself.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
At once the sapling shot up, and after that gave no more trouble, remaining in the decorous and perpendicular position in which nature had intended it to grow.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The crags above us were not merely perpendicular, but curved outwards at the top, so that ascent was out of the question.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It consists of four parts: a horizontal or cribriform plate; a perpendicular plate; and two lateral masses or labyrinths.
(Ethmoid Bone, NCI Thesaurus)
"Sorry indeed to hear it! she and I must have some talk;" and bending from the perpendicular, he installed his person in the arm-chair opposite Mrs. Reed's.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
