oblique

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Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English, oblike, from Latin oblīquus (slanting, sideways, indirect, envious)

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

oblique (comparative more oblique, superlative most oblique)

Positive
oblique

Comparative
more oblique

Superlative
most oblique

  1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined.
    • It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. - Cheyne.
  2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister.
    • The love we bear our friends . . . Hath in it certain oblique ends. - Drayton.
    • This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. - De Quincey.
    • Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. / That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. - Wordworth.
  3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral.
    • His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. - Baker.
  4. (botany, of leaves) Having the base of the blade asymmetrical, with one side larger or extending further than the other.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Noun

Singular
oblique

Plural
obliques

oblique (plural obliques)

  1. (geometry) An oblique line.
  2. (rare) The punctuation sign "/"

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to oblique

Third person singular
obliques

Simple past
obliqued

Past participle
obliqued

Present participle
obliquing

to oblique (third-person singular simple present obliques, present participle obliquing, simple past and past participle obliqued)

  1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction.
    • Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. - Sir. W. Scott.
  2. (military) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; — formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.

[edit] Italian

[edit] Adjective

oblique f.

  1. Feminine plural form of obliquo