Origin: Latin suffix -ular
Perpendicular has 10 different meanings across 2 categories:
a straight line at right angles to another line
"The surveyor marked the property lines perpendicular to the main road before installing the new fence."
a Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting
"The cathedral's interior, built during the late medieval period, showcases the defining features of perpendicular architecture with its soaring fan vaults and delicate four-centered arches."
a cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity; used to determine the vertical from a given point
"The surveyor adjusted his plumb line until the heavy bob hung perfectly perpendicular, ensuring the new fence post was truly aligned with the earth."
an extremely steep face
"The climbers stared in awe at the sheer, perpendicular cliff rising straight up from the valley floor."
A line or plane that is perpendicular to another.
"The new fence was built perfectly perpendicular to the old wall, creating a sharp ninety-degree corner."
at right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line
"a vertical camera angle"
"the monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab"
"measure the perpendicular height"
at or forming a right angle (to something).
"The cathedral's interior features a distinct perpendicular style with its rigid vertical tracery and depressed arches filling the nave."
Of a style of English Gothic architecture from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, marked by stiff and rectilinear lines, mostly vertical window-tracery, depressed or four-centre arch, fan-tracery vaulting, and panelled walls.
The word comes from the Middle French term perpendiculaire, which traces back to the Latin perpendiculum. Originally, it meant a plumb line, a tool used to measure verticality.