English
oblique
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /əˈbliːk/
  • IPA: /oʊˈbliːk/
  • (US military command) IPA: /ɑːbˈlaik/
Adjective

oblique (comparative obliquer, superlative obliquest)

  1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined.
  2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister.
  3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral.
  4. (botany) Of leaves, having the base of the blade asymmetrical, with one side lower than the other.
  5. (botany) Of branches or roots, growing at an angle that is neither vertical nor horizontal.
  6. (grammar) Pertaining to the oblique case (non-nominative).
  7. (grammar) Of speech or narration, indirect, employing the actual words of the speaker, but as related by a third person, having the first person in pronoun and verb converted into the third person, adverbs of present time into the past, etc.
  8. (music) Employing oblique motion, motion or progression in which one part (voice) stays on the same note while another ascends or descends.
Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: ко́свенный
Noun

oblique (plural obliques)

  1. (geometry) An oblique line.
  2. (typography) Synonym of slash#English|slash ⟨/⟩.
    • 1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240:
      Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like smallcaps slant, smallcaps slant line, smallcaps slash, and smallcaps slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as smallcaps diagonal and smallcaps diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation smallcaps oblique.
    • 1990, John McDermott, Punctuation for Now, page 20:
      Other Chaucerian manuscripts had the virgule (or virgil or oblique: /) at the middle of lines.
  3. (grammar) The oblique case.
Synonyms Verb

oblique (obliques, present participle obliquing; past and past participle obliqued)

  1. (intransitive) To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction.
  2. (military) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; — formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.
  3. (transitive, computing) To slant (text, etc.) at an angle.


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