laterally
Americanadverb
-
from side to side; along a plane.
You can force plants to grow wide and bushy by training the growth tips to grow laterally rather than cutting off the tops of the shoots.
-
in a way that involves a broadly equivalent position, office, etc..
She worked as a nurse for many years and then, moving laterally, was employed as an area supervisor in the social work field.
Etymology
Origin of laterally
Explanation
If you've ever seen a crab walking along the sand at the beach, you may have noticed that it walks laterally, meaning it moves sideways rather than forward. Moving laterally refers to shifting side to side rather than forward, backward, or vertically. This term is common in sports, like when a soccer player moves laterally to avoid an opponent. In the workplace, moving laterally means changing positions or job titles within the same company, without a promotion or demotion. The word comes from the Latin lateralis, meaning "side," and applies to both physical movement and career changes.
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.
After landing on a machine, it will try to move laterally to the next, hunting for data, passwords or other systems to take over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
One of his conclusions was that throwing the ball "laterally or backwards can increase throw-in success rates in comparison to throwing the ball forwards", and the "higher-ranked teams utilised this strategy more often".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
Unlike universal injunctions, which are top-down blocks, collateral estoppel works laterally — one court at a time, but each building on the last.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2025
As much as the major wildfires were spreading seaward — as is typical during Santa Anas — the blazes were growing laterally, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025
The movements occur not just laterally as the Earth’s plates move across the surface, but up and down as well, as rocks rise and fall under the churning process known as convection.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
