vertical

Pluralverticals

1. 1
   adjective

   Standing, pointing, or moving straight up and down, like a standing pole.

   Like a tall pole standing straight up from the ground.

   The flagpole stood vertical against the sky.

   Climbers tackled the nearly vertical cliff face.

   Similarsheer

   Oppositehorizontal, level, flat

   Note
2. 2
   adjective

   Going straight up and down on a graph, at right angles to the side-to-side line.

   Like the up-and-down side of a graph, instead of the side-to-side bottom.

   On the chart, the vertical line shows how high the price went.

   Mark the vertical axis with numbers from zero to ten.

   Oppositehorizontal

3. 3
   adjective

   Going straight up and down in 3D space, at right angles to the flat ground plane.

   Like an arrow pointing straight up out of the flat floor.

   In the model, the vertical axis points up toward the sky.

   Move the object along the vertical line to lift it higher.

   Oppositehorizontal

   Note
4. 4
   nouncountable

   A line that goes straight up and down.

   Like a straight line drawn from the floor up to the ceiling.

   Draw a vertical from the top of the triangle down to its base.

   The two verticals meet the baseline at right angles.

   Similarperpendicular, upright

   Oppositehorizontal

5. 5
   nouncountable

   An up-and-down part of a building or frame, like an upright post.

   Like the upright posts that hold up a fence.

   The builders fixed each vertical firmly into the concrete.

   Steel verticals hold up the whole roof.

   Similarupright, post, stanchion, column, strut

   Oppositehorizontal

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A group of businesses that all serve the same industry or type of customer.

   Like a shop that sells things for only one kind of job.

   Our company sells software to just one vertical: dental clinics.

   They expanded into three new verticals last year.

   Similarsector, segment, niche, market, industry

   Note
7. 7
   adjective

   Made for one particular industry or type of customer.

   Like a tool made to do just one job instead of many.

   They build vertical software just for hospitals.

   A vertical sales team focuses on one industry only.

   Similarspecialized, niche

   Oppositehorizontal, general, broad

   Note
8. 8
   noun

   The highest point of something, or the point straight overhead.

   Like the very top point straight above your head.

   The sun climbed slowly toward the vertical at midday.

   Stars near the vertical shone brightest overhead.

   Similarzenith

   Oppositenadir

9. 9
   nouncountable

   One of the long flat strips in an up-and-down window blind.

   Like one strip in a row of hanging strips over a window.

   One vertical snapped off the blind when the cat jumped.

   She wiped the dust from each vertical along the window.

   Similarslat, louver

10. 10
    adjective

    Describing two notes that are played at the same time.

    Like pressing two piano keys at the same moment, not one then the other.

    A vertical interval happens when you press two piano keys together.

    The two notes form a vertical pair when sung at once.

    Similarharmonic

    Oppositehorizontal

    Note
11. 11
    adjective

    Comparing different years of the same wine from one maker.

    Like tasting the same cake recipe baked in different years to see how it changed.

    We did a vertical tasting of ten years of the same red wine.

    A vertical lineup shows how the wine changes from year to year.

    Oppositehorizontal

    Note
12. 12
    nouncountable

    A top-down chain of command used to control political power.

    Like a ladder of bosses where every order comes from the top down.

    The president built a strong vertical to keep control over the regions.

    Power flowed down the vertical from the capital to local offices.

    Similarhierarchy

    Note

Showing meanings only. Show all 12