neutral axis

American

noun

an imaginary line in the cross section of a beam, shaft, or the like, along which no stresses occur.

neutral axis British

noun

engineering the line or plane through the section of a beam or plate which does not suffer extension or compression when the beam or plate bends

"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 neutral axis

First recorded in 1835–45

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.

See Examples For:

neutral axis

The biggest problem involved the neutral axis, the line of grays that runs from black to white.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 7, 2026

Without a precise definition of the neutral axis, the entire construction was formally incomplete.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 7, 2026

One of the team's most important achievements was establishing the neutral axis purely from the geometry of the color metric.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026

Without that definition, the structure of the model lacks formal grounding: Without a defined neutral axis, the construction is formally undefined.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026

It would seem that the point where their full strength should be developed is rather at the neutral axis than at the centroid of compression stresses.

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Edward Godfrey

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