horizontal
/hɒrɪˈzɒnt(ə)l
/adjective
1Parallel to the plane of the horizon; at right angles to the vertical: a horizontal line...
- The child bends forward at the waist until the spine becomes parallel to the horizontal plane, while holding palms together with arms extended.
- But it's not just the high resolution that makes this screen a good one, it's also evenly lit across the whole surface and the viewing angle is very wide in both the vertical and horizontal planes.
- The navigator switches on the radar system and the antenna extends, turning through 90° from the horizontal to the vertical plane.
Synonyms
parallel, level, even, straight, plane, flush
1.1(Of machinery) having its parts working in a horizontal direction: a horizontal steam engine...
- Mr Gill said the tandem compound horizontal engine was made by Smith Brothers and Eastwood of Bradford and it was the last example of its type built by the firm.
- He first constructed a horizontal wheel that he named a Danaide, and later devised another, the Vortex Water Wheel, which he patented in July 1850 and which came to be used extensively.
- The 1 - Series from Makino inaugurates a new era in reliable, high-performance horizontal machine tools.
2Being at or involving the same level of a hierarchy: horizontal class loyalties...
- Bureaucracy frustrates desire, channeling it into horizontal loops lacking hierarchy and consequence, dissipating energy and interest.
- I see the relationship as basically horizontal on that level, though obviously asymmetric in other ways, including but not limited to the legal aspects.
- Because the structure of the Iraqi insurgency is horizontal as opposed to hierarchical, it cannot be decapitated.
2.1Uniform; based on uniformity: horizontal expansion of the international community...
- The vertical system is based on the value of the claim; the horizontal system is based on territorial criteria.
- One of Starbucks' main priorities has always been horizontal expansion.
- Some total purchasing pilots also developed processes for horizontal accountability based on peer review of prescribing and referrals.
2.2Combining firms engaged in the same stage or type of production: a horizontal merger...
- They wanted to streamline operations, so his firm suggested a horizontal realignment of operations.
- Recent studies challenge value creation in conglomerate mergers, concluding that there are no synergies created through diversification or horizontal mergers.
- It has consequently recognized explicitly the regulator's need to have comparisons by making very difficult any horizontal mergers in the English water industry.
3Of or at the horizon: the horizontal moon
noun
A horizontal line, plane, etc.Nushu characters are structured by four kinds of strokes, including dots, horizontals, verticals and arcs....
- Originally, the set had four different colors, red, blue, green and yellow, with three colors in each format - large and small, squares, verticals and horizontals.
- For your information, all verticals and horizontals run vertical and horizontal in those diagrams, and I've no idea what ‘axis’ you refer to.
Derivatives
horizontality
- This horizontality has always puzzled and offended Americans.
- The most visible intervention is a two-storey ‘light beam’ that runs longitudinally along the building, its emphatic horizontality counterbalancing the strong vertical mass of the central chimney.
- The character of the space still has to do with that incessant horizontality.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in sense 3 of the adjective): from French, or from modern Latin horizontalis, from late Latin horizon, horizont- (see horizon).