subtend
Americanverb (used with object)
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Geometry. to extend under or be opposite to.
a chord subtending an arc.
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Botany. (of a leaf, bract, etc.) to occur beneath or close to.
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to form or mark the outline or boundary of.
verb
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geometry to be opposite to and delimit (an angle or side)
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(of a bract, stem, etc) to have (a bud or similar part) growing in its axil
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to mark off
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to underlie; be inherent in
Etymology
Origin of subtend
1560–70; < Latin subtendere to stretch beneath, equivalent to sub- sub- + tendere to stretch; see tend 1
Vocabulary lists containing subtend
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.
The line with letters that subtend 5 minutes of an arc from 20 feet represents the smallest letters that a person with normal acuity should be able to read at that distance.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
And two sides of the ordinate quinquangle doe subtend 2/5 of the same.
From The Way To Geometry by William Bedwell
The motions they subtend are concerned with vital functions; nutrition, respiration, circulation, assimilation, elimination, reproduction.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Arabella Kenealy
The parallax of the nearest star is only one second, the whole lenticular mass of light which surrounds our sun would therefore only subtend an angle of a single second at the nearest fixed star.
From Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence by Thomas Bassnett
Any of the parts of the flower may thus subtend a flower-bud, though probably the new buds more frequently originate in the axils of the sepals than in the other whorls.
From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Maxwell T. Masters
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