horizontal

[hawr-uh-zon-tl, hor-]

adjective

1. at right angles to the vertical; parallel to level ground.

2. flat or level.

   a horizontal position.

3. being in a prone or supine position; recumbent.

   His bad back has kept him horizontal for a week.

4. near, on, or parallel to the horizon.

5. of or relating to the horizon.

6. measured or contained in a plane parallel to the horizon.

   a horizontal distance.

7. (of material on a printed page, pieces on a game board, etc.) extending across, from the left to the right of the viewer.

8. of or relating to a position or individual of similar status.

   He received a horizontal promotion to a different department, retaining his old salary and title.

9. Economics.,  of or relating to companies, affiliates, divisions, etc., that perform the same or similar functions or produce the same or similar products.

   Through horizontal mergers the company monopolized its field.

noun

1. anything horizontal, as a plane, direction, or object.

horizontal

/ ˌhɒrɪˈzɒntəl /

adjective

1. parallel to the plane of the horizon; level; flat Compare vertical

2. of or relating to the horizon

3. measured or contained in a plane parallel to that of the horizon

4. applied uniformly or equally to all members of a group

5. economics relating to identical stages of commercial activity

   horizontal integration

noun

1. a horizontal plane, position, line, etc

Other Word Forms

• horizontality noun
• horizontalness noun
• horizontally adverb
• subhorizontal adjective
• subhorizontally adverb
• subhorizontalness noun
• unhorizontal adjective
• unhorizontally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of horizontal¹

1545–55; < Latin horizont- (stem of horizōn ) horizon + -al ¹

Example Sentences

About 10 miles beyond the elephant seals, the raw, horizontal coastal landscape morphs into a more vertical scene and the highway begins to climb and twist.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He said the missile's vertical and horizontal manoevreing were tested and were found to be up to specification, according to Russia's Tass news agency.

Read more on BBC

And Morisot would adopt his horizontal composition and reclaim her own motif in the exquisite painting from the summer of 1874 “In a Villa by the Sea.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Keck’s horizontal equestrian sculpture, which intimates occupation of the land, became Walker’s vertical, a grotesque standing humanoid, disemboweled.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But the sheer horizontal and vertical reach of the progressive mindset in newsrooms, the entrenched nature of their ideological skew, will militate against a successful resetting of their compass.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal