Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A quantity, such as mass, length, or speed, that is completely specified by its magnitude and has no direction.
- n. Mathematics A number, numerical quantity, or element in a field.
- n. A device that yields an output equal to the input multiplied by a constant, as in a linear amplifier.
- adj. Of or relating to a scalar.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In quaternions, a real number, positive or negative, integral, fractional, or surd: but some writers lately extend the meaning so as to include imaginaries. Sir W. R. Hamilton introduced the word with the meaning “a real number”; and it tends to confuse the subject to use a word needed for one purpose to signify something else for which no new word is needed.
- Of the nature of a scalar.
- n. In physics, a quantity, such as mass or volume, which has magnitude but not direction.
Wiktionary
- adj. mathematics Having magnitude but not direction
- adj. Of, or relating to scale
- n. mathematics A quantity that has magnitude but not direction; compare vector
- n. electronics An amplifier whose output is a constant multiple of its input
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Math.) In the quaternion analysis, a quantity that has magnitude, but not direction; -- distinguished from a
vector , which has both magnitude and direction.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to a directionless magnitude (such as mass or speed etc.) that is completely specified by its magnitude
- adj. of or relating to a musical scale
- n. a variable quantity that cannot be resolved into components
Etymologies
- From Latin scālāris, adjectival form from scāla ("a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale"), for *scadla, from scandere ("to climb"); compare scale. (Wiktionary)
- Latin scālāris, of a ladder, from scālae, ladder; see scale2. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The cult leader warns that her followers will make and defend themselves with what she calls scalar electromagnetic weapons if they are attacked, just as Aum defended itself when it was threatened.”
“The triple product is sometimes called the scalar triple product to distinguish it from the vector triple product”
“This is related to Grice's first maxim of quantity ( "Make your contribution as informative as required") and is held responsible for the inference of so-called scalar implicatures, among others.”
“Mass, electric charge, temperature, have the same symmetry, of a type called scalar, that of the sphere.”
“Electromagnetic waves which exist only in the vacuum of empty space constitute an ocean of infinite energy called scalar energy.”
“If you remember your math (and even if you don't), a scalar is a plain, simple, one-dimensional value.”
“In Perl, a scalar is the fundamental, basic unit of data of which there are two kinds-numbers and strings.”
“Arithmetic types, enumeration types, pointer types, and pointer to member types are collectively called scalar types.”
“J-coupling, also known as scalar coupling, is due to the interaction between different nuclei in the same molecule that is mediated through electrons in chemical bonds”
“Scalar Subqueries in SQLA subquery that returns exactly one column value from one row is also referred to as a scalar subquery.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘scalar’.
-
Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
-
Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
-
Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
-
Pterodactyl's Game of Postal Abbrevia...
Here's a fun little word game that might appeal to my fellow Wordies. The object of this game is to create the longest possible word, using only the official two-letter abbreviations of U.S. states...
deny, lame, mope, demand, camp, cask, hind, decamp, canvas, scalar, mental, pronks and 75 more...
-
wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
-
sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
-
Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
-
Collage's Words
subtle, calamity, impale, qat, painterly, piebald, surly, nihilistic, repine, slake, larder, sepulchre and 349 more...
-
The Measure of Man
Unusual, arcane, or obscure units of measure
cable, cabot, bushel, cade, caliper, callipic cycle, metonic cycle, cunit, air watt, ale gallon, allergy unit, amber and 228 more...
-
Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
-
junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
-
a few programming words
a few Programming words
syntax, function, method, variable, scalar, perl, java, c++, hash, regular expression, operator, evaluate and 20 more...
-
Nifty Math Words
A list of nifty or "cool" math words
parabola, isosceles, matrix, oblique, reciprocal, algorithm, asymptote, ellipsis, hypercube, infinitesimul, isometry, jerk and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for scalar.

ruzuzu (BTW, check out the clouds showing Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the visuals.) Aug 29, 2011
ruzuzu "2. In quaternions, a real number, positive or negative, integral, fractional, or surd: but some writers lately extend the meaning so as to include imaginaries. Sir W. R. Hamilton introduced the word with the meaning “a real number”; and it tends to confuse the subject to use a word needed for one purpose to signify something else for which no new word is needed." -- Cent. Dict.
Aug 29, 2011