lineal

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“
This Bishop of Calahorra--lineal descendant in soul of that Pharisee who exalted himself in God's House, thrilled with titillations of delicious horror at the desecrating presence of the base publican--had his pietist's eyes offended by the slab that marked Cesare Borgia's resting-place.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Belonging to or being in the direct line of descent from an ancestor.
  2. adjective Derived from or relating to a particular line of descent; hereditary.
  3. adjective Linear.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • The Queen afterwards held a Chapter of the Order of the Garter, at which the King of Prussia, “as a lineal descendant of George I.,” was elected a Knight Companion, the Queen buckling the garter round his knee. —  Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen V.1.
  • Deinonychus had so many features in common with Archaeopteryx that only a near-lineal relationship between the two fossils could explain them. —  Omni: June 1994
  • In the conclusion to the Origin, Darwin seeks to hearten and reassure the reader: "When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendents of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was deposited, they seem to me to become ennobled." —  Books news, reviews and author interviews | guardian.co.uk
  • Slightly hazy, but strong enough to merit recognition as a lineal claim —  BoxingScene.com
  • Forecast: Again slightly hazy, but clear enough to cite as a lineal claim —  BoxingScene.com
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin līneālis, consisting of lines, from Latin līnea, line; see line1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French linéal = Spanish Portuguese lineal = Italian lineale, pertaining to a line, from Latin linealis, from linea, a line: see line, n.
 

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/ˈlɪnəəl/
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