tangent

A straight line touching a curve at a single point without crossing it there.

One feature of the body, which is constructed of pressed-steel members, is the contour of the sides. They are in the form of a continuous radius from the bottom side to the cant rail, and to enable flat glass windows to be fitted the side panels are pressed around the window opening, forming a tangent to the curved bodyside.

A function of an angle that gives the ratio of the sine to the cosine, in either the real or complex numbers. Symbols: tan, tg.

A topic nearly unrelated to the main topic, but having a point in common with it.

I believe we went off onto a tangent when we started talking about monkeys on unicycles at his retirement party.

“Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”

A visual interaction between two or more lines or edges that creates a perceived relationship between them, often in a way that the artist did not intend.

A small metal blade in a clavichord that strikes the strings to produce sound.

Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.

Of a topic, only loosely related to a main topic.

Straight; not horizontally curved.

The collision occurred on a two-mile stretch of tangent track.