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linear

UK/ˈlɪn.i.ə/US/ˈlɪn.i.əɹ/
adjectiveC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,313 of 15,258mostly written

Linear means arranged in a straight line or a single sequence. A linear narrative, linear growth, non-linear.

In storytelling a linear narrative goes in order from start to finish, and a non-linear one does not. In mathematics linear means the output changes in proportion to the input, and most interesting things in the world are not linear at all.

Definitions of linear

  1. 1adjectivelinearArranged in a straight line or a single sequence.C1

    “The museum tour follows a linear route from the oldest rooms to the newest.”

linear is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin linearis comes from linea, a line, from linum, flax — a line was first a linen thread.

  1. Latin

    līneāris

  2. English, today

    linear

Built from

  • līnea · Latin — line

Borrowed from Latin līneāris. Latin līneāris, from līnea (“line”) + -āris (adjectival suffix), equivalent to line + ar. a doublet of lineal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

linear in the wild

  • Linear maps can often be represented as matrices, and simple examples include rotation and reflection linear transformations.

    Linear map

  • For instance, linear algebra is fundamental in modern presentations of geometry, including for defining basic objects such as lines, planes and rotations.

    Linear algebra

  • The concept of vector spaces is fundamental for linear algebra, together with the concept of matrices, which allows computing in vector spaces.

    Vector space

  • A linear programming algorithm finds a point in the polytope where this function has the largest (or smallest) value if such a point exists.

    Linear programming

  • Industries that use linear programming models include transportation, energy, telecommunications, and manufacturing.

    Linear programming

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the līnea family

lineagealignlinear

linear — used about once every 6,066 pages · #10,313 · point at the bar for the others