What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Perpendicular vs Athwart - What's the difference?

perpendicular | athwart |

As an adjective perpendicular

is (architecture) of a style of english gothic architecture from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

As an adverb athwart is

(archaic) from side to side; across.

As a preposition athwart is

(lb) from one side to the other side of.

perpendicular

English

(wikipedia perpendicular)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (geometry) At or forming a right angle (to).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author=(Henry Petroski) , title=Opening Doors , volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3 , magazine= citation , passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.}}
    In most houses, the walls are perpendicular to the floor .

    Synonyms

    * evendown * normal * orthogonal

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (geometry) A line or plane that is perpendicular to another.
  • A device such as a plumb line that is used in making or marking a perpendicular line.

    • athwart

    English

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (archaic) From side to side; across.
    • Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart .
    We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart , forming a crude cross.
  • (archaic) Across the path (of something).
    • a fleet standing athwart our course
  • * '>citation

    • Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (lb) From one side to the other side of.
  • :
  • *, II.iii:
  • *:Knit with a golden bauldricke, which forelay / Athwart her snowy brest, and did diuide / Her daintie paps
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:At eve the beetle boometh / Athwart the thicket lone.
  • (lb) Across the line of a ship's course or across its deck.
  • :
  • (lb) Across the path or course of; opposing.
  • *1902 , (William James), (The Varieties of Religious Experience) , Folio Society 2008, p.283:
  • *:It is the voice of human experience within us, judging and condemning all gods that stand athwart the pathway along which it feels itself to be advancing.

    • Quotations

    *1816 , (Samuel Taylor Coleridge), *:But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted / Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover ! * *:Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

    Derived terms

    * athwartships