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🔀 Unrelated 📐 At right angles 📊 Statistically independent
orthogonal

orthogonal

1 8.6
At right angles to each other like two crossing lines
  • adjective
  • /ɔrˈθɒgənl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ortogonal
  • In force measurement systems, three channels are common, one for each of the three orthogonal directions.
  • orthogonal directions
  • orthogonal rotation
  • orthogonal axes

That one is orthogonal to the X&T;, and of course it's orthogonal to the normal XY plane.

Examples

  • Invariably, the plan of the new town was orthogonal, with two wide right-angled cross streets intersecting at a large central piazza.

    Academic text (1994)

  • That told us that the force is orthogonal to the velocity.

  • Because these are orthogonal to one another, they won't mix right.

  • The recent photo of the Hanford site shows the two orthogonal 4 km vacuum pipes going off into the distance.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The unit has application principally in force measurement, where force is to be measured in three orthogonal directions simultaneously.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The two lines on the graph are orthogonal, creating a clear intersection at a right angle.

  • To ensure accuracy, the sensors must be positioned in three orthogonal orientations: X, Y, and Z.

  • In the Cartesian coordinate system, the X and Y axes are orthogonal to each other.

Synonyms

normal
vsorthogonal
  • Specialized
32 7.0

At a right angle to a line or surface

is the standard technical word for that right-angle relation
perp
vsorthogonal
  • Informal
9.8

At a right angle to something

is the full formal term rather than the abbreviation
crosswise
vsorthogonal
4.0

Lying across something at right angles

focuses strictly on forming right angles rather than merely lying across

Antonyms

parallel
  • Specialized
5 3.7

A line or flat surface the same distance from another that never meets it

Compounds

orthogonal opposition
  • Specialized
9.9

Two things that are at right angles to each other, like lines or vectors

Surface Forms

orthogonal positive

Morphology

orthogonal = ortho + gon + al

Formed from Greek combining forms (ortho- 'straight/right' + -gon- 'angle' + -al); the meaning 'at right angles' follows the parts but the combining forms are not common to B1 learners.

Etymology

Orthogonal comes from the Greek parts orthos meaning 'straight' or 'right' and gonia meaning 'angle'. So in geometry it literally means 'at a right angle', which is why we use it for lines or axes that meet at 90 degrees.