lateral

/ˈlæt(ə)ɹəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈlat͡ʃ(ə)ɹəl/

lateral adjective: situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane.

Adjective

lateral (comparative more lateral, superlative most lateral)

Situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane.
- 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.
Antonyms:

medial
Affecting the side or sides of the body, or confined to one side of the body.
- The “Euphoria” and “Grey’s Anatomy” actor announced on Thursday that he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.2025 April 10, Dan Heching, “Eric Dane shares that he has been diagnosed with ALS”, in CNN
Acting or placed at right angles to a line of motion or strain.
At the same level in hierarchy or rank, especially pertaining to a movement that does not involve a change in rank, status, or level.
- Instead of a promotion, I opted for a lateral move to a similar position in the marketing department.
- lateral hiring
(UK) Non-linear or unconventional, as in, lateral thinking; outside the box.
(of a consonant, especially the English clear l) Pertaining to speech sounds generated by partially blocking the egress of the airstream with the tongue, leaving space on one or both sides of the occlusion for air passage.

Noun

lateral (plural laterals)

An object, such as a passage or a protrusion, that is situated on the side of something else.
A sound produced through lateral pronunciation (such as /l/ in lateral).
A lateral pass.
An employee hired for a position at the same organizational level or salary as their previous position.
A lateral canal, a canal built alongside an existing stream.
- […] Canal and laterals, section 4, and the first part of section 5; and Miller Canal and laterals.1956, United States House Appropriations Committee, Public Works Appropriations for 1957, page 703
- Two-thirds of the drownings, or 103, occurred along the back of the canal or lateral. […] 4 drownings per year occurred in reaches of canals or laterals protected by fencing.1971, Howard S. Latham, James M. Verzuh, Reducing Hazards to People and Animals on Reclamation ..., page 7

Verb

lateral (third-person singular simple present laterals, present participle (US) lateraling or (UK) lateralling, simple past and past participle (US) lateraled or (UK) lateralled)

To move (oneself or something) in a lateral direction.
To execute a lateral pass.

lateral meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lateral in Hindi

पार्श्विक, पार्श्वीय, पार्श्व

lateral in Tamil

பக்க, பக்கவாட்ட, புடை, பக்கவாட்டு, பக்கத்திற்குரிய, பக்கக்கிளை

lateral in Marathi

बाजूकडील, पार्श्विक

lateral in Urdu

بغلی, جانبی

More languagesFewer languages

lateral in Bengali: পার্শ্বীয়, পার্শ্বস্থ, পার্শ্বদেশসংক্রান্ত
lateral in Telugu: పార్శ్వ
lateral in Malayalam: അരികിലുള്ള, പാർശ്വസ്ഥമായ, പാർശ്വികമായ, വശത്തുള്ള
lateral in Kannada: ಪಕ್ಕದ, ಪಕ್ಕಕ್ಕಿರುವ, ಬದಿಯ, ಪಾರ್ಶ್ವದ
lateral in Odia: ପାର୍ଶ୍ୱୀଯ଼, ପାର୍ଶ୍ବୀଯ଼
lateral in Nepali: पार्श्वीय, पार्श्विक
lateral in Tagalog: panagiliran
lateral in Arabic: سَاكِن sākin, جَانِبِيّ jānibiyy
lateral in Persian: جانبی jânebi, کناری kenâri

Examples of lateral in a sentence

The liquid is pressurized in the lateral channel.
She was working on Wúràọlá’s eyes, tracing a line towards her lateral canthus.
The procerebrum is the equivalent structure to the lateral lobe in Hygrophila.

All 40 example sentences with lateral

Antonyms of lateral

Forms of lateral

Adjective
comparative	more lateral
superlative	most lateral
Noun
plural	laterals
Verb
third-person singular present	laterals
present participle US	lateraling
present participle UK	lateralling
past participle US	lateraled
past US	lateraled
past participle UK	lateralled
past UK	lateralled

Origin of lateral

Borrowed from Latin laterālis (“belonging to the side”), from latus (“the side or flank”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

Words formed from lateral

Phrases with lateral

32 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with lateral

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lateral

What does lateral mean?: Lateral means situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane.
What is lateral in Hindi?: Lateral in Hindi is पार्श्विक, पार्श्वीय, पार्श्व. See Lateral meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is lateral?: Lateral can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce lateral?: Lateral is pronounced /ˈlæt(ə)ɹəl/ (UK).

Words near lateral in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: lateral (page history and authors); lateral (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lateral (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lateral (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lateral (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Lateral (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lateral (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lateral (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lateral (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lateral (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lateral (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lateral.wav.

Cite this entry: “lateral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lateral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.