Search Result for "tangential": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (2)

1. of superficial relevance if any;
- Example: "a digressive allusion to the day of the week"
- Example: "a tangential remark"
[syn: digressive, tangential]

2. of or relating to or acting along or in the direction of a tangent;
- Example: "tangential forces"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tangential \Tan*gen"tial\, a. (Geom.) Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent. [1913 Webster] Tangential force (Mech.), a force which acts on a moving body in the direction of a tangent to the path of the body, its effect being to increase or diminish the velocity; -- distinguished from a normal force, which acts at right angles to the tangent and changes the direction of the motion without changing the velocity. Tangential stress. (Engin.) See Shear, n., 3. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

tangential adj 1: of superficial relevance if any; "a digressive allusion to the day of the week"; "a tangential remark" [syn: digressive, tangential] 2: of or relating to or acting along or in the direction of a tangent; "tangential forces"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

34 Moby Thesaurus words for "tangential": approaching, asymptotic, brushing, centripetal, centrolineal, concurrent, confluent, confocal, connivent, contacting, contingent, converging, digressive, divergent, extraneous, focal, glancing, grazing, impingent, impinging, in contact, irrelevant, meeting, mutually approaching, nudging, osculatory, peripheral, radial, radiating, rubbing, tangent, touching, uniting, unrelated