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oblique

UK/əˈbliːk/US/oʊˈbliːk/
adjectiveC2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,923 of 15,258mostly written

Oblique means slanting, or expressed indirectly. An oblique angle, an oblique reference, oblique criticism.

The indirect sense is the useful one: an oblique reference points at something without naming it, which is how a great deal of criticism is delivered in polite settings. In geometry an oblique angle is any that is not a right angle.

Definitions of oblique

  1. 1adjectiveobliqueSlanting, or expressed indirectly.C2

    “The evening sun threw long, oblique shadows across the field.”

oblique is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin obliquus means slanting or sideways, of uncertain further origin.

  1. Latin

    oblīquus (also spelled oblīcus) — slanting, sideways, indirect, envious

  2. Middle French

    oblique

  3. English, today

    oblique

From Middle French oblique, from Latin oblīquus (also spelled oblīcus) (“slanting, sideways, indirect, envious”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

oblique in the wild

  • In fonts which do not have true italics, oblique type may be used instead.

    Italic type

  • The inferior oblique muscle or obliquus oculi inferior is a thin, narrow muscle placed near the anterior margin of the floor of the orbit.

    Inferior oblique muscle

  • Brown first described the disorder in 1950 and initially named it the "superior oblique tendon sheath syndrome".

    Brown's syndrome

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.