Word.ws English Dictionary

umbra recta

UK/ˈʌmbɹə ˈɹɛktə/

umbra recta noun: on a shadow in the shape of a right triangle, the length of the shadow's edge adjacent to a measured angle.

Noun

umbra recta

  1. On a shadow in the shape of a right triangle, the length of the shadow's edge adjacent to a measured angle.
    • Scheubelius a great Mathematician, but by book only, and not by practice who being required ſometime in an Army to make uſe of his Quadrant, knew not the difference between umbra recta, and umbra verſa.1688, John Hales, “The Rich man’s Recepiſti”, in Golden Remains, 3rd edition, page 77
    Synonyms:
    umbra extensa

Synonyms of umbra recta

  • umbra extensa

Origin of umbra recta

First attested in Modern English in 1688, although the phrase was also used in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) in his Treatise on the Astrolabe; Latin: umbra (“shadow”) + rēcta (feminine nominative singular of rēctus, “straight”) = “straight shadow”; compare umbra versa.

Questions about umbra recta

What does umbra recta mean?
Umbra recta means on a shadow in the shape of a right triangle, the length of the shadow's edge adjacent to a measured angle.
What part of speech is umbra recta?
Umbra recta is a noun.
How do you pronounce umbra recta?
Umbra recta is pronounced /ˈʌmbɹə ˈɹɛktə/ (UK).

Words near umbra recta in the dictionary

  1. umbonulomorphs
  2. umbos
  3. umboth
  4. umbozerite
  5. umbra
  6. umbra recta
  7. umbra versa
  8. umbracious
  9. umbracula
  10. umbracular
  11. umbraculate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: umbra recta (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: “umbra recta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/umbra_recta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.