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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tangential \Tan*gen"tial\, adjective (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent.
{Tangential force} (Mech.), a force which acts on a moving body in the direction of a tangent to the path of the body, its effect being to increase or diminish the velocity; -- distinguished from a normal force, which acts at right angles to the tangent and changes the direction of the motion without changing the velocity.
{Tangential stress}. (Engin.) See {Shear}, noun, 3.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
tangential
adjective
1: of superficial relevance if any; "a digressive allusion to the day of the week"; "a tangential remark" [syn: {digressive}]
2: of or relating to or acting along or in the direction of a tangent; "tangential forces"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
34 Moby Thesaurus words for "tangential": approaching, asymptotic, brushing, centripetal, centrolineal, concurrent, confluent, confocal, connivent, contacting, contingent, converging, digressive, divergent, extraneous, focal, glancing, grazing, impingent, impinging, in contact, irrelevant, meeting, mutually approaching, nudging, osculatory, peripheral, radial, radiating, rubbing, tangent, touching, uniting, unrelated
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |