orthogonal
UK/ɔːˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl//ɔɹˈθɑ.ɡə.nəl/
orthogonal adjective: of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.
Adjective
orthogonal (not comparable)
- Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.
- A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.
- Of a pair of vectors: having a zero inner product; perpendicular.
- The normal vector and tangent vector at a given point are orthogonal.
- Of a square matrix: such that its transpose is equal to its inverse.
- Of a linear transformation: preserving its angles.
- Of grid graphs, board games and polyominoes: vertical or horizontal but not diagonal.
- Of a pair of elements in an ortholattice: each less than or equal to the orthocomplement of the other.
- Statistically independent, with reference to variates.
- Of two or more aspects of a problem, able to be treated separately; of a design, exhibiting consistency and composability.
- The content of the message should be orthogonal to the means of its delivery.
- An orthogonal approach also promotes reuse. If components have specific, well-defined responsibilities, they can be combined with new components in ways that were not envisioned by their original implementors.1999, Andrew Hunt, David Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 36
- Of two or more problems or subjects, independent of or irrelevant to each other.
- Even in a geostate, some people are willing to fight and die for their views, but the institutional change to a polystate seems somewhat orthogonal to such issues.2014 March 22, Rick Weber, “Polystate: Book 2”, in Notes on Liberty
Noun
orthogonal (plural orthogonals)
- An orthogonal line.
- All of the orthogonals in this painting display an understanding of linear perspective.
orthogonal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
orthogonal in Hindi
- of right angles
- लांबिक lāmbik, लंब कोणीय lamb koṇīya
orthogonal in Tamil
- செங்குத்தான, செங்குத்து, செங்கோண, செங்கோணவட்டான
orthogonal in Marathi
- ऑर्थोगोनल, ओर्थोगोनल
orthogonal in Urdu
- آرتھوگونل, آرتھوگنل
More languagesFewer languages
- orthogonal in Bengali
- অর্থোগোনাল
- orthogonal in Telugu
- ఆర్థోగోనల్, ఆర్తోగోనల్, అర్థోగోనల్
- orthogonal in Malayalam
- ലംബകോണീയം, ലംബികം
- orthogonal in Kannada
- ಆರ್ಥೋಗೋನಲ್, ಆರ್ತೋಗೋನಲ್, ಆರ್ಥೋಗೊನಲ್
- orthogonal in Punjabi
- ਆਰਥੋਗਨਲ, ਆਰਥੋਗੋਨਲ, ਓਰਥੋਗਨਲ
- orthogonal in Gujarati
- ઓર્થોગોનલ, ઓર્થોગનલ
- orthogonal in Odia
- ଅର୍ଥୋଗୋନାଲ, ଅର୍ଥୋଗୋନାଲ୍
- orthogonal in Nepali
- ओर्थोगोनल, अर्थोगोनल, ऑर्थोगोनल
Examples of orthogonal in a sentence
- If a Hermitian matrix has a simple spectrum (of eigenvalues) then its eigenvectors are orthogonal.
- The orthogonal convex hull of an orthogonal polygon is the smallest orthogonally convex polygon that encloses the original polygon.
- E.g., orthogonal as in statistically independent, orthopair is a pair of disjoint subsets, orthogonal in the sense of two aspects of a software problem are able to be treated separately.
Antonyms of orthogonal
Forms of orthogonal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | orthagonal |
| Noun | |
| plural | orthogonals |
Origin of orthogonal
From Middle French orthogonal, in turn from Medieval Latin orthogōnālis and Latin orthogōnius (“right-angled”), ultimately from Ancient Greek ὀρθογώνιος (orthogṓnios, “rectangular”). By surface analysis, ortho- + -gon + -al.
Words formed from orthogonal
- orthogonal base
- orthogonal complement
- orthogonal function
- orthogonal group
- orthogonality
- orthogonalize
- orthogonally
- orthogonal matrix
- orthogonals
- orthogonal transform
Phrases with orthogonal
Questions about orthogonal
- What does orthogonal mean?
- Orthogonal means of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.
- What is orthogonal in Hindi?
- Orthogonal in Hindi is लांबिक (lāmbik), लंब कोणीय (lamb koṇīya). See Orthogonal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is orthogonal?
- Orthogonal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce orthogonal?
- Orthogonal is pronounced /ɔːˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl/ (UK).
Words near orthogonal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: orthogonal (page history and authors); orthogonal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); orthogonal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); orthogonal (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); orthogonal (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-orthogonal.ogg, en-au-orthogonal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “orthogonal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/orthogonal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.