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Lateral or Transverse - What's the difference?

lateral | transverse |

As adjectives the difference between lateral and transverse

is that lateral is to the side; of or pertaining to the side while transverse is situated or lying across; side to side, relative to some defined "forward" direction.

As nouns the difference between lateral and transverse

is that lateral is an object, such as a passage or a protrusion, that is situated on the side of something else while transverse is anything that is transverse or athwart.

As verbs the difference between lateral and transverse

is that lateral is to move (oneself or something) in a lateral direction while transverse is to overturn; to change.

lateral

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • To the side; of or pertaining to the side.
  • Instead of a promotion, I opted for a lateral move to a similar position in the marketing department.
  • (anatomy) Pertaining to the left or right of the body; further from the midline.
  • The medial side of the knee faces the other knee, while the outer side of the knee is lateral .
    A fish senses changes in hydrodynamic pressure with its lateral line.
  • (linguistics) Pertaining to sounds generated by partially blocking the egress of the airstream with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, leaving space on one or both sides of the occlusion for air passage.
  • Synonyms

    *

    Antonyms

    * (anatomy) medial * (geometric) longitudinal, vertical

    Derived terms

    * laterally

    Coordinate terms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • an object, such as a passage or a protrusion, that is situated on the side of something else
  • (linguistics) a sound produced through lateral pronunciation (such as /l/ in lateral )
  • (American football) a lateral pass
  • An employee hired for a position at the same organizational level or salary as their previous position.
  • See also

    * (lateral consonant)

    Verb

  • To move (oneself or something) in a lateral direction
  • (American football) To execute a lateral pass
  • transverse

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Situated or lying across; side to side, relative to some defined "forward" direction.
  • (geometry, of an intersection) Not tangent: so that a nondegenerate angle is formed between the two things intersecting.
  • Antonyms

    * (lying across) longitudinal

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything that is transverse or athwart.
  • (geometry) The longer, or transverse, axis of an ellipse.
  • Verb

    (transvers)
  • To overturn; to change.
  • * Rev. Charles Leslie
  • And so long shall her censures, when justly passed, have their effect: how then can they be altered or transversed , suspended or superseded, by a temporal government, that must vanish and come to nothing?
  • (obsolete) To change from prose into verse, or from verse into prose.
  • (Duke of Buckingham)
    ----