abscissa
Americannoun
noun
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The distance of a point from the y-axis on a graph in the Cartesian coordinate system. It is measured parallel to the x-axis. For example, a point having coordinates (2,3) has 2 as its abscissa.
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Compare ordinate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abscissa
1690–1700; feminine of Latin abscissus (past participle of abscindere to abscind )
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Abscissa had gone to Wheelborough to visit a school-friend.
From Stories by American Authors, Volume 5 by James, Henry
A gloomy year it was, brightened only by occasional interviews with Abscissa, the Abbie of my thoughts and dreams.
From Stories by American Authors, Volume 5 by James, Henry
Abscissa Surd was as perfectly symmetrical as Giotto's circle, and as pure, withal, as the mathematics her father taught.
From Stories by American Authors, Volume 5 by James, Henry
Therefore, you reach Abscissa when the engine does, or in ten minutes—ten minutes sooner than if you had lazily sat down upon the rear car and talked politics with the brakeman.
From Stories by American Authors, Volume 5 by James, Henry
Absciss, ab′sis, Abscissa, ab-sis′sa, n. the straight line cut off or intercepted between the vertex of a curve and an ordinate, measured along the principal axis:—pl.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
