collinear
Americanadjective
adjective
-
lying on the same straight line
-
having a common line
-
Sharing a common line, such as two intersecting planes.
-
Lying on the same line, such as a set of points.
Other Word Forms
- collinearity noun
- collinearly adverb
- noncollinear adjective
Etymology
Origin of collinear
Explanation
In geometry or algebra, when points are on the same line, they're collinear. Your math teacher might teach you how to graph collinear points. Although you're most likely to encounter the word collinear in a math textbook, it's sometimes used more generally to mean "in a row." So if you want to sound impressive, you could describe the collinear ducks crossing the street. Mathematically, it's good to know that two points are always collinear, since you can connect them with a straight line. Collinear has its roots in Latin, with the prefix col- meaning "with" and līneāris, "belonging to a line."
Vocabulary lists containing collinear
Geometry - High School
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High School Geometry, List 1
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Geometry (Base List)
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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.
If they’re small, you can cultivate the soil, skimming below the surface with a collinear hoe or scuffle hoe to expose weed roots.
From Washington Post • Jul. 18, 2017
Nonzero vectors u and v are called collinear if there exists a nonzero scalar α such that v = αu.
From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016
Show that u and v are collinear if and only if u × v = 0.
From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016
The WGD in the Eucalyptus lineage relative to Vitis is clearly revealed by the 2:1 pattern in which two different Eucalyptus regions are typically collinear with a single region in Vitis.
From Nature • Jun. 10, 2014
If A, B, C are three distinct collinear points, the supplementary segment ABC is contained within the segment BCA.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" 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.
