major axis

American

noun

Mathematics.

the axis of an ellipse that passes through the two foci.

major axis British

noun

the longer or longest axis of an ellipse or ellipsoid

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of major axis

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

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major axis

A segment perpendicular to the major axis that passes through the center and intersects the ellipse in two points is called the minor axis.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

Determine whether the major axis is horizontal or vertical.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

The major axis of the orbit of a planet, such as Mercury, rotates in space slightly because of various perturbations.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

Now that the equation is in standard form, we can determine the position of the major axis.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

Its east—west major axis permitted many inventions adopted in one part of Eurasia to spread relatively rapidly to societies at similar latitudes and climates elsewhere in Eurasia.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023