tangential
English
WOTD – 4 August 2010
Etymology
tangent + -ial.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /tænˈd͡ʒɛn.t͡ʃəl/
- (US) IPA(key): /tænˈd͡ʒɛn.t͡ʃəl/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
tangential (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 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 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.
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- 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
- tangentially
Related terms
- tangent
Translations
referring to a tangent
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merely touching
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Anagrams
- antitangle