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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A quantity, such as mass, length, or speed, that is completely specified by its magnitude and has no direction.
  2. n. Mathematics A number, numerical quantity, or element in a field.
  3. n. A device that yields an output equal to the input multiplied by a constant, as in a linear amplifier.
  4. adj. Of or relating to a scalar.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. 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.
  2. Of the nature of a scalar.
  3. n. In physics, a quantity, such as mass or volume, which has magnitude but not direction.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. mathematics Having magnitude but not direction
  2. adj. Of, or relating to scale
  3. n. mathematics A quantity that has magnitude but not direction; compare vector
  4. n. electronics An amplifier whose output is a constant multiple of its input

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. 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

  1. adj. of or relating to a directionless magnitude (such as mass or speed etc.) that is completely specified by its magnitude
  2. adj. of or relating to a musical scale
  3. n. a variable quantity that cannot be resolved into components

Etymologies

  1. From Latin scālāris, adjectival form from scāla ("a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale"), for *scadla, from scandere ("to climb"); compare scale. (Wiktionary)
  2. 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.”

    Pana Wave Cult Raises Concern Among Japanese Authorities

  • “The triple product is sometimes called the scalar triple product to distinguish it from the vector triple product”

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en]

  • “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.”

    Pragmatics

  • “Mass, electric charge, temperature, have the same symmetry, of a type called scalar, that of the sphere.”

    Pierre Curie

  • “Electromagnetic waves which exist only in the vacuum of empty space constitute an ocean of infinite energy called scalar energy.”

    The Times of India

  • “If you remember your math (and even if you don't), a scalar is a plain, simple, one-dimensional value.”

    Dev Shed - RSS Feeds

  • “In Perl, a scalar is the fundamental, basic unit of data of which there are two kinds-numbers and strings.”

    Dev Shed - RSS Feeds

  • “Arithmetic types, enumeration types, pointer types, and pointer to member types are collectively called scalar types.”

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  • “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”

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en]

  • “Scalar Subqueries in SQLA subquery that returns exactly one column value from one row is also referred to as a scalar subquery.”

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Lists

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Comments

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  • 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

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‘scalar’ has been looked up 2284 times, added to 13 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.