tangential
English
editEtymology
editPronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): /tænˈd͡ʒɛn.t͡ʃəl/
- (US) IPA(key): /tænˈd͡ʒɛn.t͡ʃəl/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
edittangential (comparative more tangential, superlative most tangential)
- Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.
- 2002, Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey in Science and Politics, page 560:
- The meteor came in on a tangential orbit and exploded about 8 or 10 miles above the earth's surface, just south of the Arctic Circle.
- 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
- A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.
- Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.
- 1898, Gary Nathan Calkins, Mitosis in Noctiluca miliaris and its bearing on the nuclear relations of the Protozoa and Metazoa, Ph.D. Thesis, page 3
- The archoplasm divides and forms a very large spindle which first lies tangential to the surface of the nucleus.
- 1898, Gary Nathan Calkins, Mitosis in Noctiluca miliaris and its bearing on the nuclear relations of the Protozoa and Metazoa, Ph.D. Thesis, page 3
- Only indirectly related.
- That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editreferring to a tangent
|
merely touching
|
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *teh₂g- (touch)
- English terms suffixed with -ial
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples