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Glite Dictionary
vertical angle

vertical angle

1 4.5
A corner formed where two straight lines cross that is opposite another and equal
  • noun
  • /ˈvɜrtɪkəl ˈæŋɡəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ángulo vertical
  • To find the vertical angles, you can measure one angle and know that the opposite angle will be the same.
  • horizontal and vertical angles

Is it possible for vertical angles to be complementary?

Examples

  • The ground vehicles would also contain the measuring and control technology with a horizontal and vertical angle sensor located in each cable line and a force sensor within the cable distributor, enabling precise control of the kite's movements.

    Blog text (17)

  • Now if this continued, then we would have vertical angles here, here.

  • Is it possible for vertical angles to be complementary?

    Brian McLogan

  • PHOTO (COLOR): Before computer-aided design, workers had to record horizontal and vertical angles, stadia, and rod readings in the field.

    Academic text (2003)

  • To run this line, they used a piece of equipment, also made especially for the survey by John Bird, called a transit—a surveyor's instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles.

    Academic text (2006)

  • "You had to record horizontal and vertical angles, stadia and rod readings, and then back in the office you'd have to hand-plot them all on a drafting table," he said.

    Academic text (2003)

  • When two lines intersect, the angles opposite each other are called vertical angles and are always equal.

  • In geometry, vertical angles are formed when two lines cross, creating two pairs of equal angles.

Surface Forms

vertical angle singular
vertical angles plural

Morphology

vertical + angle

The geometric sense 'angles opposite each other' cannot be derived from combining 'vertical' (pointing straight up) with 'angle' in the everyday sense; 'vertical' here is a technical label rather than indicating up/down orientation. An average B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely infer a physically upright angle rather than the specialized meaning, so the expression is not predictable from its parts.

Etymology

The term vertical angle may come from an old word for the meeting point of lines, called 'vertex'. If you imagine two lines crossing like an X, the angles facing each other across that point are the vertical angles and they are the same size.