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perpendicular

UK/ˌpɜː.pənˈdɪk.jə.lə(ɹ)/US/ˌpɝ.pənˈdɪk.ju.lɚ/
adjectiveB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,911 of 15,258mostly written

Perpendicular means meeting at a perfect right angle. Perpendicular to the wall, a perpendicular line, drop a perpendicular.

In building it means vertical, since a plumb line hangs perpendicular to the ground. In geometry it means at ninety degrees to any given line, whatever direction that line runs. The Latin behind it is the word for a plumb line.

Unknown · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of perpendicular

  1. 1adjectiveperpendicularMeeting at a perfect right angle.B2+

    “The two streets are perpendicular, so the corner forms a perfect L shape.”

perpendicular is a quality of angle.

Where it comes from

Latin perpendiculum means a plumb line, from perpendere, to weigh carefully.

  1. Latin

    perpendiculum — plumb line

  2. Old French

    perpendiculer

  3. Middle French

    perpendiculaire

  4. English, today

    perpendicular

Middle French perpendiculaire, from Old French perpendiculer, from Latin perpendiculum (“plumb line”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Directions & Position

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perpendicular in the wild

  • The waves propagate in directions that are parallel to the membrane plane, but each point in the membrane itself gets displaced up and down, perpendicular to that plane.

    Transverse wave

  • Perpendicular is also used as a noun: a perpendicular is a line which is perpendicular to a given line or plane.

    Perpendicular

  • A line is said to be perpendicular to another line if the two lines intersect at a right angle.

    Perpendicular

  • The term is a calque of Latin angulus rectus; here rectus means "upright", referring to the vertical perpendicular to a horizontal base line.

    Right angle

  • In geometry, a normal is an object (e.g. a line, ray, or vector) that is perpendicular to a given object.

    Normal (geometry)

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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.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.