saltus

American  

[sal-tuhs, sawl-] / ˈsæl təs, ˈsɔl- /

noun

Mathematics.

• saltuses
  plural

1. oscillation.

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saltus British  

/ ˈsæltəs /

noun

1. a break in the continuity of a sequence, esp the omission of a necessary step in a logical argument

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• saltuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of saltus

1655–65; < New Latin, Latin: a leap. See salt ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

saltus

I did not write without going pretty carefully into all the cases of normal structure in animals resembling monstrosities which appear per saltus.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Sir Francis Darwin

And let us observe that Nature, though forbidden such style of progression by her savans, sometimes does make a local saltus, especially in the change of climates.

From To the Gold Coast for Gold A Personal Narrative in Two Volumes.—Volume I by Sir Richard Francis Burton

There is an old adage which says Natura non facit saltus, Nature takes no leaps.

From The League of Nations and its Problems Three Lectures by L. (Lassa) Oppenheim

The apparent springs "saltus vel transitus etiam longissimos," he explains by the same thought having been a component part of two or more total impressions.

From Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

There is here, apparently, not only a step in development but a saltus mortalis, a dividing and impassable gulf.

From No Refuge but in Truth by Goldwin Smith