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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A straight line intersecting a curve at two or more points.
  2. n. The straight line drawn from the center through one end of a circular arc and intersecting the tangent to the other end of the arc.
  3. n. The ratio of the length of this line to the length of the radius of the circle.
  4. n. The reciprocal of the cosine of an angle in a right triangle.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Cutting; dividing into two parts.
  2. n. A line which cuts a figure in any way.
  3. n. Specifically, in trigonometry, a line from the center of a circle through one extremity of an are (whose secant it is said to be) to the tangent from the other extremity of the same are; or the ratio of this line to the radius; the reciprocal of the cosine.
  4. Specifically, noting a stream which cuts across folded strata.

Wiktionary

  1. n. geometry A straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points.
  2. n. trigonometry In a right triangle, the reciprocal of the cosine of an angle. Symbol: sec

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Cutting; dividing into two parts.
  2. n. (Geom.) A line that cuts another; especially, a straight line cutting a curve in two or more points.
  3. n. (Trig.) A right line drawn from the center of a circle through one end of a circular arc, and terminated by a tangent drawn from the other end; the number expressing the ratio of this line to the radius of the circle. See Trigonometrical function, under Function.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle
  2. n. a straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points

Etymologies

  1. From Latin secans, present participle of secare ("to cut") (Wiktionary)
  2. From Latin secāns, secant-, present participle of secāre, to cut. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. cutting

hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. trigonometric function
  1. circular function
  1. straight line

same context (16)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. cotangent
  2. lessonswatch
  3. toxicokinetic
  1. archived
  2. authors'
  3. cosine
  1. house-sized
  2. thousandfold
  3. 'set
  1. algebraical
  2. interspecies
  3. speedie
  1. bronchopulmonary
  2. work/rest
  3. ironberg
  1. reportable

reverse dictionary (17)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. co
  2. inverse secant
  3. arc secant
  1. arcsec
  2. arcsecant
  3. cosecant
  1. Sec.
  2. arc-secant
  3. trigonometric function
  1. sech
  2. sec
  3. one-valued function
  1. hyperbolic function
  2. antilogarithm
  3. notation
  1. projection
  2. secant

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. math
  1. geometry
  1. navigation
  1. sec

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Lists

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  • chained_bear "Few understood the Rule of Three; few could multiply with any certainty, nor yet divide; none knew the nature of a logarithm, a secant, a sine."
    "'...What do you make of it?'
    --Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 120 Feb 13, 2008

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‘secant’ has been looked up 1469 times, added to 10 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 8.