linear

Having the form of a line; straight or roughly straight; following a direct course.

Adjective

  1. Having the form of a line; straight or roughly straight; following a direct course.
    • The route taken does not have to be a perfectly straight line, just so long as it is linear and is followed consistently for each transect taken. - 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New...
  2. Of or relating to lines.

    Synonyms: lineal

  3. Made, or designed to be used, in a step-by-step, sequential manner.
    • a linear medium
  4. Long and narrow, with nearly parallel sides.
  5. Having degree one; that is, being of the form a_1x_1+a_2x_2+⋯+a_nx_n+b, where each x_i is a variable. See also Linear polynomials on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
    • 4x#43;5y#43;#92;frac#123;1#125;#123;2#125;z is a linear polynomial, but 4xy#43;#92;frac#123;1#125;#123;2#125;z and 4x#43;z² are not.
  6. Involving only linear polynomials. See also Linear equation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
    • The graph of the linear equation y#61;ax#43;b is a straight line with slope a and y-intercept b
  7. An additive, homogeneous mapping; that is, a function f:V→W is linear if it distributes over vector addition (f( mathbf v+ mathbf w)=f( mathbf v)+f( mathbf w)) and respects scalar multiplication (f(c mathbf v)=cf( mathbf v)). If V and W are vector spaces over a field K, f may also be called a K-linear map. See also linear map on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
    • The map f#58;#92;mathbb#123;R#125;³#92;to#92;mathbb#123;R#125;² taking (x,y,z)#92;mapsto(x#43;y#43;z,x-y#43;3z) is a linear map.
  8. A module homomorphism; that is, a group homomorphism that commutes with scalar multiplication. See also Module homomorphism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  9. A type of length measurement involving only one spatial dimension (as opposed to area or volume).
    • a linear meter
  10. Delivered or delivering on a fixed schedule, as opposed to on-demand.
    • linear TV, linear content, linear video, linear radio
    • Linear television is dead or, at least, declining.
    • Linear television includes traditional over-the-air broadcasting, as well as much cable and satellite broadcasting.

    Synonyms: broadcast tune-in

    Antonyms: streaming on-demand non-linear

Origin

Borrowed from Latin līneāris, from līnea (“line”) + -āris (adjectival suffix), equivalent to line + -ar. Doublet of lineal.

Forms

more linear most linear

Synonyms

linelike

Antonyms

nonlinear

Derived

antilinear basolinear bilinear circumlinear colinear collinear crosslinear curvilinear general linear group hyperlinear interlineal interlinear isolinear lineal linear algebra linear algebraic linear algebraic group linear channel linear combination linear congruential generator linear density linear dependence linear elasticity linear equation

Noun

  1. Ellipsis of linear amplifier.

Forms

linears