straight-line

[ streyt-lahyn ]

adjective

Machinery.
- noting a machine or mechanism the working parts of which act or are arranged in a straight line.
- noting a mechanism for causing one part to move along a straight line.
Accounting. denoting uniform allocation, as in calculating the total depreciation over the life of a depreciable asset, dividing that into equal parts, and depreciating each segment at regular intervals.

Origin of straight-line

First recorded in1835–45

Words Nearby straight-line

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use straight-line in a sentence

Justin Bieber This wonky first pitch offers further proof that Justin Bieber struggles with the definition of a straight line.
50 Cent and the Worst Celebrity First Pitches | Amy Zimmerman | May 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
By the end of his relatively lengthy address, Pierre had drawn a straight line between supporting the NRA and loving freedom.
CPAC: Come for the Crazy, Stay for the Party | Michelle Cottle | March 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It demonstrates the greatness of ink-painting as a genre if it had evolved in a straight line from the past.
A New Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum Puts a Modern Face on Chinese Art | Melik Kaylan | January 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
You can draw a fairly straight line from Helms to Karl Rove, who tamed and adapted the approach for a national audience.
The Crazy Ted Cruz-Jesse Helms Connection | Jamelle Bouie | September 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
So can you draw a straight line from Jobs to Zuckerberg—or are they Apples and oranges?
Ashton Kutcher’s ‘Jobs’ Is Actually Not That Bad | Rob Fishman | August 16, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

The primal rigidity of the straight line yields later on to the freedom of an organ.
Children's Ways | James Sully
His smooth brow wrinkled and his mouth tightened to a thin straight line beneath the fair "regulation" moustache.
Dope | Sax Rohmer
The ryot, of course, familiar with each yard of the route, practically followed a straight line.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
He rushed forward in a straight line, as usual, breaking and tearing everything.
Kari the Elephant | Dhan Gopal Mukerji
It is seldom either more or less than a straight line ruled from one end of the kingdom to the other.
Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 | Lt-Col. Pinkney

British Dictionary definitions for straight-line

straight-line

noun(modifier)

(of a machine) having components that are arranged in a row or that move in a straight line when in operation
of or relating to a method of depreciation whereby equal charges are made against gross profit for each year of an asset's expected life

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

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