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Petrichor: The smell after rainfall


[tan-juh nt] /ˈtæn dʒənt/
in immediate physical contact; touching.
  1. touching at a single point, as a tangent in relation to a curve or surface.
  2. in contact along a single line or element, as a plane with a cylinder.
tangential (def 3).
Geometry. a line or a plane that touches a curve or a surface at a point so that it is closer to the curve in the vicinity of the point than any other line or plane drawn through the point.
  1. (in a right triangle) the ratio of the side opposite a given angle to the side adjacent to the angle.
  2. Also called tan. (of an angle) a trigonometric function equal to the ratio of the ordinate of the end point of the arc to the abscissa of this end point, the origin being at the center of the circle on which the arc lies and the initial point of the arc being on the x-axis.
    Abbreviation: tg, tgn.
  3. (originally) a straight line perpendicular to the radius of a circle at one end of an arc and extending from this point to the produced radius which cuts off the arc at its other end.
the upright metal blade, fastened on the inner end of a clavichord key, that rises and strikes the string when the outer end of the key is depressed.
off on / at a tangent, digressing suddenly from one course of action or thought and turning to another:
The speaker flew off on a tangent.
Origin of tangent
1585-90; < Latin tangent- (stem of tangēns, present participle of tangere to touch) in phrase līnea tangēns touching line; see -ent
Related forms
quasi-tangent, adjective
Can be confused
1. meeting, abutting. Unabridged
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Examples from the Web for tangent
Contemporary Examples
Historical Examples

  • The complement of the logarithm of a sine, tangent, or secant.

    The Sailor's Word-Book William Henry Smyth
  • This means of course that the spiral has been cut by a plane parallel to the tangent plane.

  • What is the focus of a perpendicular on the tangent of an ellipse from any external point?

  • It was his plan to keep zigzagging, approaching the stream and then retreating, always at a tangent.

    Cold Ghost Chester S. Geier
  • It must have gone off on a tangent through stores into the cooler.

    Greylorn John Keith Laumer
  • For example, a particle moving with uniform speed v in a circle of radius r, has momentum mv along the tangent.

    Lord Kelvin Andrew Gray

    The Stark Munro Letters J. Stark Munro
  • Then, at the proper moment, a beam of intense coherent light shot out of the tangent that formed the tail of the Q-tube.

    The Foreign Hand Tie Gordon Randall Garrett
British Dictionary definitions for tangent


a geometric line, curve, plane, or curved surface that touches another curve or surface at one point but does not intersect it
(of an angle) a trigonometric function that in a right-angled triangle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to that of the adjacent side; the ratio of sine to cosine tan
the straight part on a survey line between curves
(music) a part of the action of a clavichord consisting of a small piece of metal that strikes the string to produce a note
on a tangent, at a tangent, on a completely different or divergent course, esp of thought: to go off at a tangent
  1. of or involving a tangent
  2. touching at a single point
almost irrelevant
Derived Forms
tangency, noun
Word Origin
C16: from Latin phrase līnea tangēns the touching line, from tangere to touch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for tangent

1590s, "meeting at a point without intersecting," from Latin tangentem (nominative tangens), present participle of tangere "to touch," from PIE root *tag- "to touch, to handle" (cf. Latin tactus "touch," Greek tetagon "having seized," Old English þaccian "stroke, strike gently"). First used by Danish mathematician Thomas Fincke in "Geomietria Rotundi" (1583). Extended sense of "slightly connected with a subject" is first recorded 1825. The noun also is attested from 1590s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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tangent in Science
  1. A line, curve, or surface touching but not intersecting another.

  2. The ratio of the length of the side opposite an acute angle in a right triangle to the side adjacent to the angle. The tangent of an angle is equal to the sine of the angle divided by the cosine of the angle.


  4. A function of a number x, equal to the tangent of an angle whose measure in radians is equal to x.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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Idioms and Phrases with tangent


The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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