Horizontal Meaning
/ˌhɒɹɪˈzɒn.təl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjPerpendicular to the vertical; parallel to the plane of the horizon; level, flat.
adjRelating to horizontal markets
Sentence Examples
Tango is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire.
Tango is the vertical expression of horizontal desire.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter used a level to make the shelf perfectly ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The architect drew a long ____ line across the blueprint to represent the ground floor.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French horizontal, from horizon, horizonte, from Latin horizōn (stem horizont-).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Power is derived from a British United Traction Limited "A"-type 150-h.p. six-cylinder horizontal diesel engine; this drives through a fluid flywheel, and thence through a free wheel unit to a four-speed epicyclic gearbox."
— 1958 April 26, “Diesel Railbus for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 275:
"[…] a pair of pauldrons with the light horizontal bar which in later years developed into the high neckguard of the sixteenth century; numbers of gauntlets, visors of helmets, and other pieces, the handling of which is a sheer joy […]"
— 1976, Apollo: A Journal of the Arts:
"As when the Sun new ris'n / Looks through the Horizontal misty Air"
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 594-595:
"Comparing a man who inspires you intellectually and makes you laugh with a guy who fulfils all your horizontal desires means you’re not comparing like with like."
— 2020 February 2, Mariella Frostrup, “One is a great guy; the other is good in bed. So who do I choose?”, in The Guardian:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The carpenter used a level to make the shelf perfectly ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The architect drew a long ____ line across the blueprint to represent the ground floor.