linear
[lin-ee-er]
- of, consisting of, or using lines: linear design.
- pertaining to or represented by lines: linear dimensions.
- extended or arranged in a line: a linear series.
- involving measurement in one dimension only; pertaining to length: linear measure.
- of or relating to the characteristics of a work of art in which forms and rhythms are defined chiefly in terms of line.
- having the form of or resembling a line: linear nebulae.
- Mathematics.
- consisting of, involving, or describable by terms of the first degree.
- having the same effect on a sum as on each of the summands: a linear operation.
- Electronics. delivering an output that is directly proportional to the input: a linear circuit; a linear amplifier.
- threadlike; narrow and elongated: a linear leaf.
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Origin of linear
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nonlinear
Contemporary Examples
Guillermo Arriaga (Babel, 21 Grams, The Burning Plain) employs a nonlinear style.
Critics rediscovered Wuthering Heights, praising its complicated, nonlinear structure.
Historical Examples
The new stage corresponds to distributed, non-sequential forms of human activity, nonlinear dependencies.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
The frequency distribution of breeding activity in birds is described by a nonlinear curve (a normal distribution is nonlinear).
The Breeding Birds of KansasRichard F. Johnston
Let us assume that each of the environmental variables is a nonlinear oscillator, as is probable.
The Breeding Birds of KansasRichard F. Johnston
nonlinear
- not of, in, along, or relating to a line
- denoting digital editing in which edits are saved on computer, rather than videotape, thus enabling further edits to be made
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linear
- of, in, along, or relating to a line
- of or relating to length
- resembling, represented by, or consisting of a line or lines
- having one dimension
- designating a style in the arts, esp painting, that obtains its effects through line rather than colour or light and in which the edges of forms and planes are sharply definedCompare painterly
- maths of or relating to the first degreea linear equation
- narrow and having parallel edgesa linear leaf
- electronics
- (of a circuit, etc) having an output that is directly proportional to inputlinear amplifier
- having components arranged in a line
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin līneāris of or by means of lines
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
Word Origin and History for nonlinear
linear
adj.
1640s, from French linéaire, from Latin linearis "belonging to a line," from linea "string, line" (see line (n.)). Essentially the same word as lineal; "in Latin linearis the original suffix -alis was dissimilated to -aris, but in Late Latin this rule was no longer productive and the formation or re-formation in -alis remained unchanged." [Barnhart]. Linear A and Linear B (1902-3) were names given to two related forms of linear Minoan writing discovered 1894-1901 in Crete by Sir Arthur Evans.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
linear
(lĭn′ē-ər)- Of, relating to, or resembling a line; straight.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
linear
[lĭn′ē-ər]
- Being or resembling a line.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.