transverse

[trans-vurs, tranz-, trans-vurs, tranz-]

adjective

1. lying or extending across or in a cross direction; cross.

2. (of a flute) having a mouth hole in the side of the tube, near its end, across which the player's breath is directed.

3. (of an automotive engine) mounted with the crankshaft oriented sideways.

noun

1. something that is transverse.

2. Nautical.,  web frame.

3. Geometry.,  transverse axis.

4. a city road that cuts through a park or other area of light traffic; shortcut.

transverse

/ trænzˈvɜːs /

adjective

1. crossing from side to side; athwart; crossways

2. geometry denoting the axis that passes through the foci of a hyperbola

3. (of a flute, etc) held almost at right angles to the player's mouth, so that the breath passes over a hole in the side to create a vibrating air column within the tube of the instrument

4. astronomy another word for tangential

noun

1. a transverse piece or object

Other Word Forms

• transversely adverb
• subtransverse adjective
• subtransversely adverb
• transverseness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of transverse¹

First recorded in 1610–20, transverse is from the Latin word trānsversus going or lying across, athwart. See traverse

Word History and Origins

Origin of transverse¹

C16: from Latin transversus , from transvertere to turn across, from _trans- + vertere to turn

Example Sentences

The trail seems to transverse through an ecotone, a transitional zone between plant communities, switching between high desert and pine forest ecosystems.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

One tabulation of the cost to double the number of buses so fans can better transverse the city on public transit is estimated at upward of $1 billion.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Watching white swans transverse the tranquil river in front of the theater, Khomik said his portrayal of Lear was meant to convey not only suffering, but also a sense of fortitude.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Cashore spelled it correctly, then clinched the title with the word “transept,” an architectural term for the transverse part of a cross-shaped church.

Read more on Seattle Times

This device was able to exhibit a transverse thermoelectric effect significantly larger than that produced solely by existing magnetic materials capable of exhibiting the anomalous Nernst effect in the first-ever experimental demonstration of its kind.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• across 
• cross 
• transversal