orthogonal

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.

   “A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.”

2. (not-comparable)Of a pair of vectors: having a zero inner product; perpendicular.

   “The normal vector and tangent vector at a given point are orthogonal.”

3. (not-comparable)Of a square matrix: such that its transpose is equal to its inverse.
4. (not-comparable)Of a linear transformation: preserving its angles.
5. (not-comparable)Of grid graphs, board games and polyominoes: vertical or horizontal but not diagonal.
6. (not-comparable)Of a pair of elements in an ortholattice: each less than or equal to the orthocomplement of the other.
7. (not-comparable)Statistically independent, with reference to variates.
8. (not-comparable)Of two or more aspects of a problem, able to be treated separately; of a design, exhibiting consistency and composability.

   “The content of the message should be orthogonal to the means of its delivery.”

   “An orthogonal approach also promotes reuse. If components have specific, well-defined responsibilities, they can be combined with new components in ways that were not envisioned by their original implementors.”

9. (not-comparable)Of two or more problems or subjects, independent of or irrelevant to each other.

   “Even in a geostate, some people are willing to fight and die for their views, but the institutional change to a polystate seems somewhat orthogonal to such issues.”

noun

1. An orthogonal line.

   “All of the orthogonals in this painting display an understanding of linear perspective.”