y-axis

[ wahy-ak-sis ]

/ ˈwaɪˌæk sɪs /

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noun, plural y-ax·es

[wahy-ak-seez]. /ˈwaɪˌæk siz/. Mathematics.

Also called axis of ordinates. (in a plane Cartesian coordinate system) the axis, usually vertical, along which the ordinate is measured and from which the abscissa is measured.

(in a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system) the axis along which values of y are measured and at which both x and z equal zero.

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Origin of y-axis

First recorded in 1925–30

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH y-axis

x-axis, y-axis

Words nearby y-axis

yawnsome, yawny, yawp, yaws, Yaxchilán, y-axis, yay, Yayoi, yazata, Yazd, Yazidi

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use y-axis in a sentence

Why do you think you were “an asperg-y movie fan…a jabbering repellent acolyte?”
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire|William O’Connor|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg was as provocative as Hammerstein, though with a much less earnest, more whimsical sensibility.
When Broadway Musicals Were Dark And Subversive|Laurence Maslon|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Very bass-y house, if I was in my element and playing what I like to play.
Idris Elba on Eric Garner, ‘Mi Mandela,’ and Selling Weed to Dave Chappelle|Marlow Stern|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
With the freedom of doing that, we were able to do a non-human, flip-y thing.
‘No Regrets’: Peter Jackson Says Goodbye to Middle-Earth|Alex Suskind|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I was like, “In what world do I look like I would play the WASP-y wife?”
Eliza Coupe Finds Her ‘Happy Ending’ With ‘Benched’|Kevin Fallon|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If the "Y" Beach lot press their advantage they may cut off the enemy troops on the toe of the Peninsula.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
Y was a Youth, that did not love school; Z was a Zany, a poor harmless fool.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
D'o l'on peut aussy veoir, quelle esperance il y a de planter une belle chrestient par tels evangelistes.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various
Ajoutez cecy, s'il vous plaist, la grande difficult qu'il y a de tirer d'eux les mots mesmes qu'ils ont.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various
The long axis of the hip-roof crystal is often so shortened that it resembles the envelop crystal of calcium oxalate.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for y-axis

y-axis

noun

a reference axis, usually vertical, of a graph or two- or three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system along which the y- coordinate is measured

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

Scientific definitions for y-axis

y-axis

[ wī′ăk′sĭs ]

The vertical axis of a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system.

One of the three axes of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system.