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perpendicular

[pur-puhn-dik-yuh-ler]
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adjective
  1. vertical; straight up and down; upright.
  2. Geometry. meeting a given line or surface at right angles.
  3. maintaining a standing or upright position; standing up.
  4. having a sharp pitch or slope; steep.
  5. (initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to the last style of English Gothic architecture, prevailing from the late 14th through the early 16th century and characterized by the use of predominantly vertical tracery, an overall linear, shallow effect, and fine intricate stonework.
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noun
  1. a perpendicular line or plane.
  2. an instrument for indicating the vertical line from any point.
  3. an upright position.
  4. a sharply pitched or precipitously steep mountain face.
  5. moral virtue or uprightness; rectitude.
  6. Nautical. either of two lines perpendicular to the keel line, base line, or designed water line of a vessel.
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Origin of perpendicular

1350–1400; < Latin perpendiculāris vertical, equivalent to perpendicul(um) plumb line (see perpend2, -i-, -cule2) + -āris -ar1; replacing Middle English perpendiculer(e) (adj. and adv.) < Old French perpendiculiere
Related formsper·pen·dic·u·lar·i·ty, per·pen·dic·u·lar·ness, nounper·pen·dic·u·lar·ly, adverbnon·per·pen·dic·u·lar, adjective, nounnon·per·pen·dic·u·lar·ly, adverbnon·per·pen·dic·u·lar·i·ty, nounun·per·pen·dic·u·lar, adjectiveun·per·pen·dic·u·lar·ly, adverb

Synonyms

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1. standing. See upright.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

virtueintegrityhonorhonestyperpendicularityverticality

Examples from the Web for perpendicularity

Historical Examples

  • This perpendicularity we demand of all the figures in this picture of life.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • The sense of perpendicularity, however, should constantly be cultivated.

    Handwork in Wood

    William Noyes

  • Your argument about the perpendicularity of the dike strikes me as good.

  • Parallell-equality is derived from perpendicularity, and is of neere affinity to it.

  • Perpendicularity was in the former attributed to lines considered in a surface.

British Dictionary definitions for perpendicularity

perpendicular

adjective
  1. Also: normal at right angles to a horizontal plane
  2. denoting, relating to, or having the style of Gothic architecture used in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by tracery having vertical lines, a four-centred arch, and fan vaulting
  3. upright; vertical
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noun
  1. geometry a line or plane perpendicular to another
  2. any instrument used for indicating the vertical line through a given point
  3. mountaineering a nearly vertical face
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Derived Formsperpendicularity (ˌpɜːpənˌdɪkjʊˈlærɪtɪ), nounperpendicularly, adverb

Word Origin

C14: from Latin perpendiculāris, from perpendiculum a plumb line, from per- through + pendēre to hang
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 perpendicularity

perpendicular

adj.

late 15c., from adverb (late 14c.), from Old French perpendiculer, from Latin perpendicularis "vertical, as a plumb line," from perpendiculum "plumb line," from perpendere "balance carefully," from per- "thoroughly" (see per) + pendere "to weigh, to hang" (see pendant). As a noun from 1570s. Related: Perpendicularly; perpendicularity.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
perpendicularity in Science

perpendicular

[pûr′pən-dĭk′yə-lər]
Adjective
  1. Intersecting at or forming a right angle or right angles.
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Noun
  1. A line or plane that is perpendicular to a given line or plane.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.