lineal
/ˈlɪnɪəl
/adjective
1In a direct line of descent or ancestry: a lineal descendant...
- According to the Pechanga constitution, full membership requires proof of lineal descent from an original Pechanga member and a family line contained in the official enrolment book.
- Primacy is given to male lineal descendants in the male line of descent and women come very low in the order of heirs.
- In 1270 it was replaced by the Solomonic dynasty claiming lineal descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, bringing the Amharas from the mountains of central Ethiopia to prominence.
2Relating to or consisting of lines; linear.The emerging city form for both Thimphu and Paro is lineal, following river valleys, consuming some of the richest farmlands as they expand....
- In his view, it was appropriate to use the number of test openings that he used, notwithstanding that they exposed only 1% of the lineal perimeter.
- I know that in Liverpool in the late nineteenth century around 0.5 per cent of the entire lineal quayage was unusable because it was covered in rubbish: the lad did not know that.
Derivatives
lineally
- This Anglo-Israelite or British-Israelite movement believed that the Anglo-Saxon race were lineally descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and they were God's chosen people, not the tribe of ‘treacherous’ Judah.
- Ancestor worship is strong among lineally organized groups.
- All one hundred or so were lineally or affinally related to each other.
Origin
Late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin linealis, from linea 'a line' (see line1).