linear Definition
lin·ear (lin′ē ər)
adjective
- of or relating to a line or lines
- made of or using lines linear design
- in relation to length only; extended in a line
- designating or of a style of art in which forms are sharply delineated and line is emphasized over color, light and shadow, etc.
- having an effect or giving a response directly proportional to stimulus, force, or input: used esp. of electronic devices
- easy to comprehend because of being logical and not complex
- narrow and uniform in width, as the leaves of grasses
- Chem. having the basic structure of a straight chain
- Math. of or involving terms of a linear equation
Etymology: L linearis
linear Related Forms
linear Synonyms
linear
modif.
linear Usage Examples
Adjective complement with noun phrase
make: It also shows how causation distinguishes time from space, makes time linear, gives it its direction and enables us to perceive it.
Modifies a noun
- algebra: Even nonlinear problems usually involve linear algebra in their solution.
- equation: Von Koch's first results were on infinitely many linear equations in infinitely many unknowns.
- regression: The correlation between observations was tested using linear regression.
- accelerator: The radiation beams from a linear accelerator can treat a tumor with around 1mm precision.
- interpolation: Positions of the rest of the values are found by linear interpolation.
- earthwork: Most likely, Wansdyke was a defensive linear earthwork.
Modifying Another Word
- piecewise: As individual elements we choose piecewise linear or smooth maps, and compare results obtained in both cases.
- strictly: Agents of the Enlightenment thought history was strictly linear, he says.
- essentially: First, they have tended to see the global in terms of an essentially linear process, or linear processes, of globalization.
- approximately: Memory usage is approximately linear in RE size, and largely insensitive to RE complexity, except for bounded repetitions.
- fairly: This fall in heart rate is fairly linear, decreasing by approximately 1 beat per minute per year.
- locally: Therefore, these algorithms rely on a locally linear internal model of the black box.
Used with adjective complement
- remain: To rectify this I relocated both handles to the bottom edge in which the two points remain linear.
- become: Have you established that the relationship is linear or can be transformed to become linear?
- use: In television, I have used linear editing and Avid editing software, and have a working knowledge of DV Cams.
- look: If you place the dots with even spacing from frame to frame, the motion will look linear.
Preposition: in
- size: We show that graphs generated in this way have fairly large dominating sets ( i.e. , linear in the size of the graph ).
- range: The pharmacokinetics of valsartan are linear in the dose range tested.
Preposition: with
respect: An obvious advantage of such algorithm would be that its time complexity will be linear with respect to the size of set of samples.
Browse dictionary entries near linear
- ‹ lineament
- ‹ lineal heir
- ‹ lineal
- ‹ lineage
- ‹ line up
- ‹ line-switched ring
- ‹ line storm
- ‹ line status lamp
- ‹ line squall
- ‹ line spectrum

