Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Perpendicular |
PerpendicularAdjective1. Intersecting at or forming right angles; "the axes are perpendicular to each other". 2. At right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line; "a vertical camera angle"; "the monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab"; "measure the perpendicular height". 3. Extremely steep; "the great perpendicular face of the cliff". Noun1. A straight line at right angles to another line. 2. A Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines, a four-centered (Tudor) arch, fan vaulting. 3. A cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity; used to determine the vertical from a given point. 4. An extremely steep face. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "perpendicular" was first used: 14th century. (references) |
Etymology: Perpendicular \Per`pen*dic"u*lar\, adjective. [Latin perpendicularis, perpendicularius: compare to French perpendiculaire. See Perpendicle, Pension.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Perpendicular is a geometric term that may be used as a noun or adjective. The fundamental meanings pertain to the position of straight lines relative to one another, in which two lines are positioned at an angle of ninety degrees, which is defined as a right angle. Any two lines in Euclidean space which are perpendicular to one another and which intersect automatically define a plane.Naturally, if a line is given, then a perpendicular is any line at a ninety-degree angle to that line. This is an important property in geometry and trigonometry since important properties accrue to line systems containing right angles. When graphinging, the convention is to use either an X and Y axis, or to use an X, Y, and Z axis, which are defined as being mutually perpendicular. Right triangles, too, include two perpendicular lines and so have special properties, which are the foundation of trigonometry.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Perpendicular."
Synonyms: PerpendicularSynonyms: vertical (adj), perpendicular style (n), plumb line (n). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: horizontal (adj), inclined (adj), oblique (adj), parallel (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Perpendicularity | Verb: be perpendicular, be orthogonal; intersect at right angles, be rectangular, be at right angles to, intersect at degrees; have no correlation. |
Adjective: orthogonal, perpendicular; rectangular; uncorrelated. | |
Verticality | Adjective: vertical, upright, erect, perpendicular, plumb, normal, straight, bolt, upright; rampant; standing up; Verb: rectangular, orthogonal; a. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Tidal stream at low tide showing parallel ripple pattern in deeper areas versus hummocky pattern in shallower areas. Parallel ripples form perpendicular to tidal flow. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Concrete roadway crossing built perpendicular to a wash to prevent erosion of roadway after the Los Alamos fires, New Mexico. Credit: Jeff Vanuga. |
 | Mediterranean moored to the BAPCO pier at Bahrain, circa July 1948. Mooring description from the original report: "A Mediterranean type moor to the BAPCO pier was employed when the ship refueled. The port anchor was dropped well up stream and thirty fathoms of chain veered. The starboard anchor was then dropped and one hundred and five fathoms of chain veered. At the same time the amount of chain veered to the port anchor was increased to one hundred and thirty-five fathoms. The stern was pushed around until perpendicular to the dock and then secured to the dock ...". Credit: NAVY. |  | He at once takes a perpendicular drop and lands upon a hard bottom of dull routine and doldrums. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | This was shown by certain perpendicular wrinkles |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | This radiograph shows the interstitial changes of early HPS. At the lung bases are Kerley B lines, short linear opacities which are perpendicular to the pleural surfaces. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Perpendicular" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 66.42% of the time. "Perpendicular" is used about 134 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 66.42% | 89 | 34,931 |
| Noun (singular) | 33.58% | 45 | 50,900 |
| Total | 100.00% | 134 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "perpendicular": compression perpendicular to the grain ♦ in the perpendicular ♦ let fall a perpendicular ♦ make perpendicular ♦ out of perpendicular ♦ perpendicular style ♦ raise a perpendicular ♦ right perpendicular ♦ schoolroom perpendicular setup. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "perpendicular": near-perpendicular, neo-perpendicular. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
perpendicular | 39 |
line perpendicular | 21 |
bisector perpendicular | 7 |
bisectors perpendicular | 3 |
line parallel perpendicular | 3 |
ever line perpendicular plane same touch will | 2 |
direction laser long longer perpendicular | 2 |
equation line perpendicular | 2 |
bisecting line non perpendicular segment two | 2 |
perpendicular recording | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "perpendicular"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | pozicion pingul, pingule (cathetus, normal), pingul (apeak, normal, perpendicularly, Plumb, vertical), perpendikulare (cathetus), perpendikular, thikë (abrupt, blade, knife, rugged, sharp, sharp pain, table knife). (various references) | |
Arabic | متعامد (orthogonal, rectangular), سطح خارجي شديد التحدر, عموديا (plumb, vertically), عمودي الخطوط, عمودي (columnar, plumb, steep, straight, upright, vertical), خط عمودي (vertical). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | вертикален (erect, vertical), отвесно положение, отвесен (abrupt, normal, precipitatious, sheer, up and down, upright, vertical), отвес (plumb line, vertical level), много стръмен (precipitatious, sheer), перпендикулярно положение, перпендикулярен (normal, square), перпендикуляр (normal). (various references) | |
Chinese | 垂直 (vertical). (various references) | |
Czech | svislice (vertical), svislý (vertical), kolmice (normal, plumbing-rule, vertical). (various references) | |
Danish | perpendikulær, lodret. (various references) | |
Dutch | perpendiculair, loodrecht (right-angle, square, vertical), hoogtelijn (across the slope, contour, contour line, isohypse), haaks (right-angle, square). (various references) | |
Esperanto | perpendikulara. (various references) | |
Farsi | ستونی , ستون وار, عمودی (Erect, Lineal, Right, Straight, Upright, Vertical), ایستاده (Standup, Static). (various references) | |
Finnish | kohtisuora (vertical), kohti (a, an, at the rate of, per, vertical). (various references) | |
French | perpendiculaire. (various references) | |
German | Senkrechte (perpendicularly, uprightly, vertical, verticalness, verticle), senkrecht (orthographical, perpendicular (to), perpendicularly, plumb, plumbly, sheer, upright, vertical), Lot (plumb, plumb line, plumbline, plummet, plump, solder, sounding line), Normale (normal). (various references) | |
Greek | κάθετοσ (vertical), κάθετος (vertical). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מאו ך (orthogonal, sheer, upright, vertical), א כי (vertical), צב (quadrature, standing, straight). (various references) | |
Hungarian | merőleges (normal, sheer), függőleges (erect, mullioned, plumb, sheer, vertical). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tegak lurus (vertical), garis tegak lurus. (various references) | |
Italian | perpendicolare (normal). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 鉛直 (upright, vertical), 直立 (upright, vertical), 直立 (erect, rise perpendicularly, stand erect, upright, vertical), 垂直 (vertical), 垂直 (vertical). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すいちょく (vertical), ちょくりつ (erect, rise perpendicularly, stand erect, upright, vertical), え"ちょく (upright, vertical). (various references) | |
Korean | 수직 (Vertical). (various references) | |
Manx | jeeraghan. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | erpendicularpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | perpendicular (apeak, downright, normal, taproot). (various references) | |
Romanian | perpendicularã, perpendicular (normal, perpendicularly, sheer, vertical), trataţie (regale, regalement), mas, aproape vertical, abrupt (abrupt, abruptly, arduous, bluffy, bold, craggy, desultory, disjointed, harsh, precipitate, precipitous, rapid, sharp, steep). (various references) | |
Russian | перпендикулярный (normal, up and down). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | perpendikularan, vertikalan (vertical), vertikala (vertical), normalan (normal, regular, standard), normala (normal, normal state). (various references) | |
Spanish | perpendicular (orthographical, up and down, upright, vertical). (various references) | |
Swedish | lodrät (perpendicularity, Plumb, sheer, up and down, vertcal, vertical). (various references) | |
Turkish | dikey çizgi (vertical), dikey (apeak, orthogonal, Plumb, sheer, upright, vertical), dik (abrupt, arduous, bluff, bold, erect, horny, jagged, precipitous, rapid, right, rough, scarped, sheer, Square, stand up, steep, stiff, straight, up, upright, uprightly, upstanding, vertical), şakül ipi, amut. (various references) | |
Turkmen | dik (steep). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | висок (plummet), прямовисний (direct, mural, precipitous, prone, sheer, upright, vertical), прямий (above board, bald, barefaced, bounden, candid, direct, downright, erect, forthright, ostensive, outright, outspoken, plainspoken, point blank, spadish, straight, straightforward, through), перпендикулярний (normal, up and down, vertical), перпендикуляр (normal). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | đường vuông góc, đường trực giao vị trí thẳng đứng dây dọi, đứng ngay. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | 2. us. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | perpendicularis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "perpendicular": perpendicularities, perpendicularity, perpendicularly, perpendiculars. (additional references) | |
| |
"Perpendicular" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bipendicular, perpendickular, perpendiculair, perpindicular, purpendicular. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "perpendicular" (pronounced per'pundi"kyuler) |
| 6 | -i" k y u l er | curricular, extracurricular, particular, testicular, vehicular. |
| 5 | -k y u l er | avuncular, binocular, cardiovascular, circular, gastrovascular, intermolecular, jocular, molecular, muscular, secular, semicircular, spectacular, unspectacular, vascular, vernacular. |
| 4 | -y u l er | angular, annular, cellular, equiangular, globular, granular, intercellular, irregular, jugular, popular, rectangular, regular, singular, triangular, tubular, unicellular, unpopular. |
| 3 | -u l er | embezzler, enabler, abler, alveolar, bachelor, Buckler, Candler, chancellor, consular, councilor, counsellor, counselor, dangler, dissimilar, fiddler, Girdler, glandular, gobbler, hackler, humbler, hurdler, hustler, Idler, insular, jeweler, juggler, kindler, kittler, Littler, modular, needler, nestler, nodular, peninsular, rattler, reveler, saddler, settler, shuffler, Sidler, similar, simpler, Spindler, Stabler, stapler, stickler, subtler, swindler, tingler, Tinkler, titular, traveler, traveller, wrangler, wrestler. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-e-i-l-n-p-p-r-r-u" | |
-3 letters: uncrippled, underprice, unprepared. | |
-4 letters: calipered, curlpaper, epicurean, euclidean, launderer, percaline, plunderer, preplaced, prepriced, prurience, puerperal, puerperia, reapplied, unclearer, unclipped, unreadier. | |
-5 letters: audience, auricled, calender, cerulean, crappier, crippled, crippler, curarine, dapperer, declarer, decliner, dulcinea, endpaper, epidural, incurred, lappered, larcener, larruped, lippened, lippered, nearlier, panderer, panicled, parceled, parcener, paupered, pearlier, peculiar, pedalier, pedicure, peduncle, penciled. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-e-e-i-l-n-p-p-r-r-u" | |
+1 letter: perpendiculars. | |
+2 letters: perpendicularly. | |
+3 letters: perpendicularity. | |
+5 letters: perpendicularities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
