longitudinal

adjective lon·gi·tu·di·nal \ ˌlän-jə-ˈtüd-nəl , -ˈtyüd- , -ˈt(y)ü-dᵊn-əl , British also ˌläŋ-gə- \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

1 : placed or running lengthwise

The insect's back is black with yellow longitudinal stripes.

2 : of or relating to length or the lengthwise dimension

the longitudinal extent of the building

3 : involving the repeated observation or examination of a set of subjects over time with respect to one or more study variables

a longitudinal study of juvenile offenders over a period of five years

—

longitudinally

adverb

See longitudinal defined for English-language learners

See longitudinal defined for kids

Examples of longitudinal in a Sentence

The insect's body is black with yellow longitudinal stripes.
calculating the longitudinal position of a ship
a longitudinal study of career aspirations among girls from 5 to 17

Recent Examples of longitudinal from the Web

Getting randomized, longitudinal studies of real workers in the real world is tricky.

— Outside Online, "Creating a workplace that truly makes us happy and healthy takes a lot more than standing desks and on-site yoga. Thankfully, new research has sparked a growing design revolution.," 26 Mar. 2018
Stoppelman explained that individual warp threads, which make up the longitudinal pattern in woven cloth, are put on a roller and then threaded individually through wire heddles, which are attached to a shaft and then to a foot treadle.

— annie gentile, Courant Community, "Rag Rug Project Upcycles Old Cloth," 22 Mar. 2018
The study relied upon newly available longitudinal Census data covering nearly the entire U.S. population between 1989 and 2015.

— the washington post, AL.com, "Black boys from wealthy families grow up to make less than rich, white neighbors, study finds," 19 Mar. 2018
Turn for the worse For the new study, Seeman and colleagues turned to longitudinal health data collected from people aged 50 to 90 (ages in 2008) in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Researchers find dramatic health effects in people hit hard by Great Recession," 15 Mar. 2018
Besides its Great Red Spot, Jupiter’s most eye-catching features are its alternating longitudinal bands of light and dark clouds.

— lee billings, Scientific American, "Juno Peers Deep into Jupiter's Abyss to Reveal Weird Winds," 7 Mar. 2018
Subaru, of course, will need to alter the hybrid components to work with the longitudinal engine layout of its own platform.

— bengt halvorson, Car and Driver, "Prime Mover: Subaru Looks to Toyota Prius for Its First Plug-In Hybrid," 15 Feb. 2018
Nutt claimed the pulling of funding limited their findings, stating: ‘It was meant to be a longitudinal study over four to six years to get some sense of the impact of their policies on young people.

— SI.com, "Football Association Pulled Funding for Child Welfare Study Amidst Budget Cuts," 18 Feb. 2018
That led to a wide range of approaches, with some teams going transverse with their motor/gearbox layout while others went longitudinal; likewise, some teams used two or three gears, while others used just one.

— bengt halvorson, Car and Driver, "Formula E for 2018: Here’s What’s New," 31 Jan. 2018

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

First Known Use of longitudinal

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 2

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LONGITUDINAL Defined for English Language Learners

longitudinal

adjective

: placed or going along the long side of something
: of or relating to longitude
: done by observing or examining a group of people or things over time to study how one or two particular things about them change

LONGITUDINAL Defined for Kids

longitudinal

adjective lon·gi·tu·di·nal \ ˌlän-jə-ˈtü-dᵊn-əl , -ˈtyü- \

: placed or running lengthwise

longitudinal stripes

—

longitudinally

adverb

Medical Dictionary

longitudinal

adjective lon·gi·tu·di·nal \ ˌlän-jə-ˈt(y)üd-ᵊn-əl, -nəl, British also ˌläŋ-gə-ˈtyüd- \

1 : of, relating to, or occurring in the lengthwise dimension

a longitudinal bone fracture

2 : extending along or relating to the anteroposterior axis of a body or part

a trypanosome which reproduces by longitudinal fission

3 : involving the repeated observation or examination of a set of subjects over time with respect to one or more study variables (as general health, the state of a disease, or mortality)

a longitudinal study of heart transplant recipients over a five-year period

—

longitudinally

play \-ē\ adverb

Learn More about longitudinal

Spanish Central: Translation of longitudinal Nglish: Translation of longitudinal for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of longitudinal for Arabic speakers

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