Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Transverse.
  • noun A line that intersects a system of other lines.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In optics, the line in which the plane of polarization of a beam of light intersects the wave-front.
  • Transverse; running or lying across: as, a transversal line. See II.
  • noun In geometry, a line drawn across several others so as to cut them all.
  • noun In anatomy, a transversalis or transversus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Running or lying across; transverse.
  • noun (Geom.) A straight line which traverses or intersects any system of other lines, as a line intersecting the three sides of a triangle or the sides produced.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Running or lying across; transverse; as, a transversal line.
  • noun A line which traverses or intersects any system of other lines transversely.
  • noun mathematics A set containing one member from each of a collection of disjoint sets.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective extending or lying across; in a crosswise direction; at right angles to the long axis

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin transversalis.

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Examples

  • There are some subtle issues going on here, in particular this is a case of what might be called a transversal problem.

    Quantum Hyperion Sean 2008

  • That's what a physicist would call transversal oscillations and longitudinal oscillations - and it's what a composer might call music.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2010

  • Franco is out in front, thanks to his unignorable turn in 127 Hours, his extreme handsomeness, and his willingness to do stuff like pose in full makeup for Terry Richardson, as he did for the cover of "transversal" style magazine Candy last year.

    The Guardian World News Jess Cartner-Morley 2011

  • Franco is out in front, thanks to his unignorable turn in 127 Hours, his extreme handsomeness, and his willingness to do stuff like pose in full makeup for Terry Richardson, as he did for the cover of "transversal" style magazine Candy last year.

    The Guardian World News Jess Cartner-Morley 2011

  • If we fix a value z0 of the longitudinal coordinate z, then we fix a two-dimensional transversal slice through the car.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

  • On the cover of Candy magazine, "the first transversal style magazine," Franco sports slicked back hair, a black blazer, heavy blue eyeshadow and cherry red lips.

    James Franco in drag on the cover of Candy magazine Liz Kelly 2010

  • Two examples, from her impressive "Transformation" disc, are the pianist's soulful performance of Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in F Minor and her sprightly, exceptionally characterful transversal of Igor Stravinsky's Three Movements From "Petrushka," a transcription based on his ballet score.

    The Fast and the Serious Barbara Jepson 2011

  • Coupled to all this is the Koenigsegg-engineered transversal, paddle-shift transmission with limited slip differential.

    Exclusive: Koenigsegg Agera - GTSPIRIT.COM 2010

  • It cannot exist without a transversal and transpositional movement.

    Contention and Contestation: Aesthetic Culture in Kant and Bourdieu 2008

  • Zacán comes from the Purépecha word meaning "stony place," because the town sits at the transversal mountain range on the skirts of the Volcano Paricutín.

    The Meseta Purepecha 2008

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