Skip to main content
tubular

tubular

11 5.1
Shaped like a long hollow tube that lets air or liquid pass
  • adjective
  • /ˈtjuːbjələr/
translation icon : tubular
  • The low-mount, diamond-framed safety bicycle had two wheels of equal size and a tubular steel frame.
  • tubular beads
  • tubular glass
  • tubular structure

This ziti, well, it's long and it's tubular, like a little tube.

Examples

  • Its numerous round heads of yellow, tubular flowers grow at the tips of three-foot-long branches.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The furnishings were striking: light wood, tubular steel, stark geometric shapes.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • We have a little tube here, a little tubular tube.

  • This ziti, well, it's long and it's tubular, like a little tube.

  • Finally we have reached my favorite portion of the race, which is this fantastic tubular course in a drainpipe!

  • The artist created a sculpture featuring a series of tubular shapes that resembled pipes.

  • We installed a tubular heater in the bathroom to ensure warmth during the chilly months.

  • The bicycle's frame is made from a strong, lightweight material that is shaped in a tubular design.

Synonyms

cylindrical
vstubular
12 4.0

A long round shape with straight, parallel sides like a tube

usually adds hollowness and passage function that this lacks
tube-shaped
vstubular
1 3.0

A long round hollow shape that lets air or water pass

can also mean composed of hollow channels rather than only being shaped like one
cannular
vstubular
  • Specialized
9.9

Shaped like a tube used for carrying liquid

is the general hollow shape often allowing fluids or air to pass through
tubelike
vstubular
3.8

Having the shape of a hollow tube that lets water pass

is similar but can imply multiple hollow channels rather than a single form
vasiform
vstubular
  • Specialized
9.9

A shape like a tube that lets liquids flow through it

focuses more on the physical hollow shape rather than primarily function
pipelike
vstubular
4.8

Long and round like a tube

is more about hollow form allowing passage rather than just long shape

Antonyms

325 1.0

Firm and hard so it keeps its shape, not liquid

Compounds

tubular cavity
  • Specialized
7.8

A hollow tube inside a plant or animal where liquids pass

7.9

A tube-shaped tool that controls a climbing rope to stop falls or lower someone

How Tube-Like

tubular
11 5.1
cylindrical
12 4.0

Surface Forms

tubular positive

Morphology

tubular = tube (transparent) = tube + ular

Clear adjectival formation from 'tube' + '-ular' meaning 'shaped like or relating to a tube', which B1 learners can infer from 'tube'.

Etymology

The word tubular comes from the simple word tube, which means 'a hollow tube' or 'pipe'. So something tubular is 'shaped like a tube' and lets air or liquid pass through it.