| / English Dictionary |
STRAIGHT LINE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A line traced by a point traveling in a constant direction; a line of zero curvature
Example:
the shortest distance between two points is a straight line
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("straight line" is a kind of...):
line (a length (straight or curved) without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "straight line"):
perpendicular (a straight line at right angles to another line)
asymptote (a straight line that is the limiting value of a curve; can be considered as tangent at infinity)
tangent (a straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point but does not intersect it at that point)
secant (a straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points)
radius (a straight line from the center to the perimeter of a circle (or from the center to the surface of a sphere))
diameter (a straight line connecting the center of a circle with two points on its perimeter (or the center of a sphere with two points on its surface))
chord (a straight line connecting two points on a curve)
element (a straight line that generates a cylinder or cone)
bias; diagonal (a line or cut across a fabric that is not at right angles to a side of the fabric)
diagonal ((geometry) a straight line connecting any two vertices of a polygon that are not adjacent)
vector (a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose orientation in space is direction)
Antonym:
curve (the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes)
Context examples:
A popular criterion used for a cost function, namely minimizing the sum of the squares of the differences between the data points and the analytical function (often a straight line) desired as a best fit.
(Least Square, NCI Thesaurus)
He was preparing only to bow and pass on, but her gentle How do you do? brought him out of the straight line to stand near her, and make enquiries in return, in spite of the formidable father and sister in the back ground.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
We have taken such a very serpentine course, and the wood itself must be half a mile long in a straight line, for we have never seen the end of it yet since we left the first great path.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Now that Martin was aroused in such matters, he swiftly noted the difference between the baggy knees of the trousers worn by the working class and the straight line from knee to foot of those worn by the men above the working class.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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