What does perpendicular mean?

Definitions for perpendicular
ˌpɜr pənˈdɪk yə lərper·pen·dic·u·lar

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word perpendicular.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. perpendicularnoun

    a straight line at right angles to another line

  2. perpendicular, perpendicular style, English-Gothic, English-Gothic architecturenoun

    a Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting

  3. plumb line, perpendicularnoun

    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

  4. perpendicularadjective

    an extremely steep face

  5. perpendicularadjective

    intersecting at or forming right angles

    "the axes are perpendicular to each other"

  6. vertical, perpendicularadjective

    at right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line

    "a vertical camera angle"; "the monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab"; "measure the perpendicular height"

  7. perpendicularadjective

    extremely steep

    "the great perpendicular face of the cliff"

Wiktionary

  1. perpendicularnoun

    A line or plane that is perpendicular to another.

  2. perpendicularnoun

    A device such as a plumb line that is used in making or marking a perpendicular line.

  3. perpendicularadjective

    At or forming a right angle (to).

    In most houses, the walls are perpendicular to the floor

  4. Perpendicularadjective

    Of a style of English Gothic architecture from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

    In most houses, the walls are perpendicular to the floor

  5. Etymology: perpendiculum.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. PERPENDICULARadjective

    Etymology: perpendiculaire, Fr. perpendicularis, Latin.

    If in a line oblique their atoms rove,
    Or in a perpendicular they move;
    If some advance not slower in their race,
    And some more swift, how could they be entangl’d. Richard Blackmore.

    The angle of incidence, is that angle, which the line, described by the incident ray, contains with the perpendicular to the reflecting or refracting surface at the point of incidence. Isaac Newton, Opticks.

    Some define the perpendicular altitude of the highest mountains to be four miles. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours.

  2. Perpendicularnoun

    A line crossing the horizon at right angles.

    Though the quantity of water thus rising and falling be nearly constant as to the whole, yet it varies in the several parts of the globe; by reason that the vapours float in the atmosphere, and are not restored down again in a perpendicular upon the same precise tract of land. John Woodward.

Wikipedia

  1. Perpendicular

    In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the perpendicular symbol, ⟂. It can be defined between two lines (or two line segments), between a line and a plane, and between two planes. Perpendicularity is one particular instance of the more general mathematical concept of orthogonality; perpendicularity is the orthogonality of classical geometric objects. Thus, in advanced mathematics, the word "perpendicular" is sometimes used to describe much more complicated geometric orthogonality conditions, such as that between a surface and its normal vector.

ChatGPT

  1. perpendicular

    Perpendicular refers to two lines, planes, or surfaces that intersect at a right angle of 90 degrees. If one line is perpendicular to another, it means they meet or cross each other at this exact angle.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Perpendicularadjective

    exactly upright or vertical; pointing to the zenith; at right angles to the plane of the horizon; extending in a right line from any point toward the center of the earth

  2. Perpendicularadjective

    at right angles to a given line or surface; as, the line ad is perpendicular to the line bc

  3. Perpendicularnoun

    a line at right angles to the plane of the horizon; a vertical line or direction

  4. Perpendicularnoun

    a line or plane falling at right angles on another line or surface, or making equal angles with it on each side

  5. Etymology: [L. perpendicularis, perpendicularius: cf. F. perpendiculaire. See Perpendicle, Pension.]

Wikidata

  1. Perpendicular

    In elementary geometry, the word perpendicular describes the relationship between two geometric objects that meet at a right angle. A line is said to be perpendicular to another line if the two lines intersect at a right angle. Explicitly, a first line is perpendicular to a second line if 1 the two lines meet and 2 at the point of intersection the straight angle on one side of the first line is cut by the second line into two congruent angles. Perpendicularity can be shown to be symmetric, meaning if a first line is perpendicular to a second line, then the second line is also perpendicular to the first. For this reason, we may speak of two lines as being perpendicular without specifying an order. Perpendicularity easily extends to segments and rays. For example, we say a line segment is perpendicular to a line segment if, when each is extended in both directions to form an infinite line, these two resulting lines are perpendicular in the sense above. In symbols, we write to mean line segment AB is perpendicular to line segment CD. A line is said to be perpendicular to a plane if 1 the line intersects the plane, 2 the line is not completely contained in the plane, and 3 the line is perpendicular to some line in the plane. Note that this definition depends on the definition of perpendicularity between lines.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Perpendicular

    pėr-pen-dik′ū-lar, adj. exactly upright: extending in a straight line toward the centre of the earth: (geom.) at right angles to a given line or surface.—n. a perpendicular line or plane.—n. Perpendicular′ity, state of being perpendicular.—adv. Perpendic′ularly.—Perpendicular style, a style of Gothic architecture in England which succeeded the Decorated style, prevailing from the end of the 14th to the middle of the 16th century, contemporary with the Flamboyant style in France, marked by stiff and rectilinear lines, mostly vertical window-tracery, depressed or four-centre arch, fan-tracery vaulting, and panelled walls. [Fr.,—L. perpendicularisperpendiculum, a plumb-line—per, through, pendĕre, to weigh.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. perpendicular

    A right line falling from or standing upon another vertically, and making the angle of 90° on both sides.

Entomology

  1. Perpendicular

    upright: at right angles to horizontal.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of perpendicular in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of perpendicular in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

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"perpendicular." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/perpendicular>.

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