horizontal

adjective

hor·i·zon·tal | \ˌhȯr-ə-ˈzän-tᵊl,

ˌhär-\

Definition of horizontal

1a : of or relating to the apparent junction of earth and sky : situated near the horizon

b : parallel to, in the plane of, or operating in a plane parallel to the horizon or to a baseline : level horizontal distance a horizontal engine

2 : relating to, directed toward, or consisting of individuals or entities of similar status or on the same level horizontal mergers horizontal hostility

3 medical : relating to or being transmission (as of a disease) by physical contact or proximity in contrast with inheritance Genes are normally inherited from parents, but they can also be inserted into a genome by viruses, plasmids, and other foreign agents—a phenomenon called horizontal transfer.— Stephan Reebs — compare vertical sense 4

Other Words from horizontal More Example Sentences Learn More about horizontal

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Other Words from horizontal

horizontal noun

horizontality \ˌhȯr-ə-ˌzän-ˈta-lə-tē,

ˌhär- \ noun

horizontally \ˌhȯr-ə-ˈzän-tᵊl-ē,

ˌhär- \ adverb

Examples of horizontal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 3,645-square-foot house features long horizontal lines and floor-to-ceiling windows facing an open meadow and trees. — Megan Barber, Curbed, "Midcentury modern on 135 acres asks $1.2M," 29 Nov. 2018 The original bridge design had a retaining wall built with mechanically stabilized earth, which uses horizontal layers of reinforcement fabric to hold up retaining walls and concrete support pillars. — Ralph Vartabedian, latimes.com, "California bullet train authority ordered part of a flawed bridge torn down," 8 June 2018 With acid reflux, everyone has different triggers; there’s no hard-and-fast list, although there are common ones, like certain types of food (citrusy or spicy foods tend to be culprits), body positioning like lying horizontal, and smoking. — Danielle Sepulveres, SELF, "My Exercise-Induced Acid Reflux Almost Made Me Stop Running," 7 Nov. 2018 Instead of a simple horizontal or vertical array in the center or the corner like every other phone does, Huawei turned its triple-camera array into a square called the Matrix, with the flash occupying the upper right corner. — Michael Simon, PCWorld, "Huawei Mate 20 Mate 20 Pro hands on: Enter the Matrix with the do-it-all Android phones," 16 Oct. 2018 All that about controlling the vertical and horizontal, focus and volume? — Kat Bein, Billboard, "G Jones Is 'Understanding The Possibility' of Bass Like None Other: Exclusive," 14 June 2018 The scheme depends on the fact that light can be polarized, so that the electromagnetic waves oscillate either in a horizontal or a vertical plane. — Davide Castelvecchi, Scientific American, "The Quantum Internet Has Arrived (and It Hasn’t)," 16 Feb. 2018 Duffy's slider has average horizontal movement .93 inches closer to right-handed hitters and average vertical movement 1.13 inches higher than last season. — Jesse Newell, kansascity, "What's been wrong with Danny Duffy? Look at his slider this year vs. last season | The Kansas City Star," 24 May 2018 The direction of the fault movement in this case would be horizontal — more like the San Andreas fault in California — and would be less likely to generate large tsunamis, Dr. Haeussler said. — Jill Burke, Alan Blinder And Henry Fountain, New York Times, "Earthquake Shakes Alaska and Sends a Shudder of Alarm Along the Coast," 23 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'horizontal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.