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Tangential - What does it mean?

tangential | |

is likely misspelled.


has no English definition.

As an adjective tangential

is referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.

tangential

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.
  • * 2002 , Edward Teller, Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey in Science and Politics , page 560
  • The meteor came in on a tangential orbit and exploded about 8 or 10 miles above the earth's surface, just south of the Arctic Circle.
  • *{{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.}}
  • Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.
  • * 1898 , Gary Nathan Calkins, Mitosis in ''Noctiluca miliaris'' and its bearing on the nuclear relations of the Protozoa and Metazoa , Ph.D. Thesis, page 3
  • The archoplasm divides and forms a very large spindle which first lies tangential to the surface of the nucleus.
  • Only indirectly related.
  • That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.

    Derived terms

    * (l)

    Not English

    has no English definition. It may be misspelled.