Word.ws English Dictionary

rectilineal

rectilineal is the alternative form of rectilinear.

Meaning of rectilinear

Adjective

rectilinear (comparative more rectilinear, superlative most rectilinear)

  1. In a straight line.
    • The crankshaft and connecting rods of an engine convert the rectilinear motion of the pistons to rotary motion of the flywheel.
  2. Formed from straight lines.
    • 10. A Chiltern Railways 2023 rectilinear diagram.2026 August 19, Andy Comfort, “Mapping Britain's railways”, in RAIL, number 1068, page 25, diagram caption

Forms of rectilineal

comparativemore rectilineal
superlativemost rectilineal

Origin of rectilineal

From recti- + lineal.

Words formed from rectilineal

  • near-rectilineal
  • near-rectilineal halo orbit
  • near-rectilineal orbit
  • rectilineality
  • rectilineally
  • rectilineal orbit

Questions about rectilineal

What is rectilineal the alternative form of?
Rectilineal is the alternative form of rectilinear.

Words near rectilineal in the dictionary

  1. rectigradation
  2. rectigradations
  3. rectigrade
  4. Rectigraph
  5. Rectigraphs
  6. rectilineal
  7. rectilineally
  8. rectilinear
  9. rectilinear orbit
  10. rectilinear orbits
  11. rectilinearism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rectilineal (page history and authors); rectilinear (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “rectilineal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rectilineal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.