Linear
adjective
Moving in or having a direct path or direction, like a straight line.
The car moved in a linear direction.
Often appears as...
- linear direction
- linear movement
adjective
Between two things or places, changing at a steady rate that can be described with a straight line on a graph.
There was a linear relationship between the time spent studying and the grades received.
Often appears as...
- linear relationship
- linear growth
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Being one dimensional, having a length but no width or height.
The linear object was difficult to hold.
Often appears as...
- linear dimension
- linear structure
adjective
Arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line.
The sprinklers were installed in a linear pattern for better coverage.
Often appears as...
- linear pattern
- linear arrangement
adjective
Involving the same amount of work or time for each unit of output.
In linear production, each unit takes the same time to produce.
Often appears as...
- linear production
- linear process
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Moving in or having a direct path or direction, like a straight line.
The car moved in a linear direction.
Often appears as...
- linear direction
- linear movement
adjective
Between two things or places, changing at a steady rate that can be described with a straight line on a graph.
There was a linear relationship between the time spent studying and the grades received.
Often appears as...
- linear relationship
- linear growth
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Being one dimensional, having a length but no width or height.
The linear object was difficult to hold.
Often appears as...
- linear dimension
- linear structure
adjective
Arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line.
The sprinklers were installed in a linear pattern for better coverage.
Often appears as...
- linear pattern
- linear arrangement
adjective
Involving the same amount of work or time for each unit of output.
In linear production, each unit takes the same time to produce.
Often appears as...
- linear production
- linear process
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/2Metaphorical Usage
In non-math contexts, 'linear' may describe a process that's straightforward without sudden changes.
Her career progressed in a linear way, with no unexpected turns.
Pro Tip 2/2Narrative Structure
'Linear' can describe storytelling that follows a chronological order without flashbacks.
The book tells the story in a linear fashion from childhood to old age.
Pro Tip 1/2Metaphorical Usage
In non-math contexts, 'linear' may describe a process that's straightforward without sudden changes.
Her career progressed in a linear way, with no unexpected turns.
Pro Tip 2/2Narrative Structure
'Linear' can describe storytelling that follows a chronological order without flashbacks.
The book tells the story in a linear fashion from childhood to old age.
Pro Tip 1/2Metaphorical Usage
In non-math contexts, 'linear' may describe a process that's straightforward without sudden changes.
Her career progressed in a linear way, with no unexpected turns.
Pro Tip 2/2Narrative Structure
'Linear' can describe storytelling that follows a chronological order without flashbacks.
The book tells the story in a linear fashion from childhood to old age.
Never forget "Linear"
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Video examples
Feedback loops: How...
maintaining a long-term equilibrium and allowing a food chain to persist over time. Feedback processes might seem counterintuitive because many of us are used to more predictable linear scenarios of cause and effect. For instance, it seems simple enough that spraying pesticides would help plants grow by killing pest insects,
Video examples
The Doctor Who Can...
passionate about it i gave it a go and there are lots of really good reasons some of those choices could have been really daft and were in retrospect but each time i made a daft choice it did open up doors to the next one and so your trajectory and your plan does not have to be this linear thing you organize
Video examples
How We Can Keep Plastics...
anyone can make plastic anywhere in the world and sell it anywhere else in the world there's no design paradigm there's no barriers in order to solve the plastic packaging problem we need to effectively rethink the entire system from one which is linear ie take make dispose to one where it can be recovered
Video examples
How does your smartphone...
you wouldn't accelerate in a linear fashion. Instead, you would instantaneously jump, or transition, from one speed to the next. For an atom, when a transition occurs from one energy level to another, quantum mechanics says that the energy difference is equal to a characteristic frequency,
Video examples
Why is ketchup so hard...
Now imagine that same bottle full of a liquid like water. That would pour like a dream. Ketchup, though, can't seem to make up its mind. Is it is a solid? Or a liquid? The answer is, it depends. The world's most common fluids like water, oils and alcohols respond to force linearly.
Video examples
Meet my robot...
better at doing that together and I call this a loop by the way so the process of making the sense of the world is not really a linear thing from the mind to the world from the world to the mind but it goes through other people all the time part of that is socially constructed by
Video examples
Why the Arctic is...
The reduced temperature differences between the two regions may lead to slower jet stream winds and less linear atmospheric circulation in the middle latitudes, where most of the world's population lives. Many scientists are concerned that shifts in weather patterns
Video examples
Bring on the learning...
or sometimes explicitly, a different that life is not linear; it's organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to the circumstances they help to create for us. But, you know, we have become obsessed with this linear narrative.
Video examples
Your brain on video...
worldwide, right? Would any of you complain if this was the case about doing linear algebra? So what we are asking in the lab is, how can we leverage that power? Now I want to step back a bit. I know most of you have had the experience of coming back
Video examples
How the pandemic will...
Aided perhaps a bit by being easier to isolate and by less density, less population density. But nonetheless, smart policies down there. Yeah, everything is so exponential that a little bit of good work goes a long way. It's not a linear game.
Video examples
Feedback loops: How...
maintaining a long-term equilibrium and allowing a food chain to persist over time. Feedback processes might seem counterintuitive because many of us are used to more predictable linear scenarios of cause and effect. For instance, it seems simple enough that spraying pesticides would help plants grow by killing pest insects,
Video examples
The Doctor Who Can...
passionate about it i gave it a go and there are lots of really good reasons some of those choices could have been really daft and were in retrospect but each time i made a daft choice it did open up doors to the next one and so your trajectory and your plan does not have to be this linear thing you organize
Video examples
How We Can Keep Plastics...
anyone can make plastic anywhere in the world and sell it anywhere else in the world there's no design paradigm there's no barriers in order to solve the plastic packaging problem we need to effectively rethink the entire system from one which is linear ie take make dispose to one where it can be recovered
Video examples
How does your smartphone...
you wouldn't accelerate in a linear fashion. Instead, you would instantaneously jump, or transition, from one speed to the next. For an atom, when a transition occurs from one energy level to another, quantum mechanics says that the energy difference is equal to a characteristic frequency,
Video examples
Why is ketchup so hard...
Now imagine that same bottle full of a liquid like water. That would pour like a dream. Ketchup, though, can't seem to make up its mind. Is it is a solid? Or a liquid? The answer is, it depends. The world's most common fluids like water, oils and alcohols respond to force linearly.
Video examples
Meet my robot...
better at doing that together and I call this a loop by the way so the process of making the sense of the world is not really a linear thing from the mind to the world from the world to the mind but it goes through other people all the time part of that is socially constructed by
Video examples
Why the Arctic is...
The reduced temperature differences between the two regions may lead to slower jet stream winds and less linear atmospheric circulation in the middle latitudes, where most of the world's population lives. Many scientists are concerned that shifts in weather patterns
Video examples
Bring on the learning...
or sometimes explicitly, a different that life is not linear; it's organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relation to the circumstances they help to create for us. But, you know, we have become obsessed with this linear narrative.
Video examples
Your brain on video...
worldwide, right? Would any of you complain if this was the case about doing linear algebra? So what we are asking in the lab is, how can we leverage that power? Now I want to step back a bit. I know most of you have had the experience of coming back
Video examples
How the pandemic will...
Aided perhaps a bit by being easier to isolate and by less density, less population density. But nonetheless, smart policies down there. Yeah, everything is so exponential that a little bit of good work goes a long way. It's not a linear game.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Francis Collins
American Scientist
Genes are effectively one-dimensional. If you write down the sequence of A, C, G and T, that's kind of what you need to know about that gene. But proteins are three-dimensional. They have to be because we are three-dimensional, and we're made of those proteins. Otherwise we'd all sort of be linear, unimaginably weird creatures.
Quote examples
Lily Cole
English Actress
The relationship between art and a job is not quite linear, but I really love any and all manifestations of art, really respect any kind of artistic impulse, whether it's paintings and sculptures or really good filmmaking or music. I really see the relationships between these different mediums as very fluid.
Quote examples
Riz Ahmed
British Musician
Trajectories aren't linear. Life's just a roller coaster. If you're getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it's varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I'm a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.
Quote examples
Vivek Oberoi
Indian Actor
In 'Road,' my character is linear and uni-dimensional. It was more of a reacting character. I am a foil to the other characters in the film. It is the most normal character in the most abnormal, extraordinary film.
Quote examples
Tony Buzan
English Author
Children are trained to think linearly instead of imaginatively; they are taught to read slowly and carefully, and are discouraged from daydreaming. They are trained to reduce the use and capacity of their brain.
Quote examples
Paul Provenza
American Actor
Career is a mindset. The wrong mindset. Career is linear. Especially when you are trapped in the TV or film world. The next thing you do has always got to be bigger, or it is perceived as a failure.
Quote examples
H. R. McMaster
American Public Servant
The important thing to remember is war does not progress linearly. The future course of events is going to be very difficult to predict with a high degree of precision.
Quote examples
Evangeline Lilly
Canadian Actress
The Hobbit' didn't include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really.
Quote examples
J. Courtney Sullivan
American Novelist
I admire the linear and decisive way a certain kind of man thinks, to my curlicue boundless overthinking.
Quote examples
Nina Easton
American Journalist
The discovery of heroes is rarely linear or obvious. They usually sneak up on you.
Quote examples
Francis Collins
American Scientist
Genes are effectively one-dimensional. If you write down the sequence of A, C, G and T, that's kind of what you need to know about that gene. But proteins are three-dimensional. They have to be because we are three-dimensional, and we're made of those proteins. Otherwise we'd all sort of be linear, unimaginably weird creatures.
Quote examples
Lily Cole
English Actress
The relationship between art and a job is not quite linear, but I really love any and all manifestations of art, really respect any kind of artistic impulse, whether it's paintings and sculptures or really good filmmaking or music. I really see the relationships between these different mediums as very fluid.
Quote examples
Riz Ahmed
British Musician
Trajectories aren't linear. Life's just a roller coaster. If you're getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it's varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I'm a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.
Quote examples
Vivek Oberoi
Indian Actor
In 'Road,' my character is linear and uni-dimensional. It was more of a reacting character. I am a foil to the other characters in the film. It is the most normal character in the most abnormal, extraordinary film.
Quote examples
Tony Buzan
English Author
Children are trained to think linearly instead of imaginatively; they are taught to read slowly and carefully, and are discouraged from daydreaming. They are trained to reduce the use and capacity of their brain.
Quote examples
Paul Provenza
American Actor
Career is a mindset. The wrong mindset. Career is linear. Especially when you are trapped in the TV or film world. The next thing you do has always got to be bigger, or it is perceived as a failure.
Quote examples
H. R. McMaster
American Public Servant
The important thing to remember is war does not progress linearly. The future course of events is going to be very difficult to predict with a high degree of precision.
Quote examples
Evangeline Lilly
Canadian Actress
The Hobbit' didn't include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really.
Quote examples
J. Courtney Sullivan
American Novelist
I admire the linear and decisive way a certain kind of man thinks, to my curlicue boundless overthinking.
Quote examples
Nina Easton
American Journalist
The discovery of heroes is rarely linear or obvious. They usually sneak up on you.
Example 1 of 10
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