Oblique
adjective
Not straight or direct, like a line or path.
She cast me an oblique glance
adjective
Not expressed directly.
His speech had an oblique reference to his own career
noun
A muscle neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.
He strained his oblique during the workout
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Slanting but not horizontal or vertical.
An oblique line across the page
noun
A typeface with characters that slant to the right.
I used the oblique typeface to emphasize the heading
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Not straight or direct, like a line or path.
She cast me an oblique glance
adjective
Not expressed directly.
His speech had an oblique reference to his own career
noun
A muscle neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.
He strained his oblique during the workout
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Slanting but not horizontal or vertical.
An oblique line across the page
noun
A typeface with characters that slant to the right.
I used the oblique typeface to emphasize the heading
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/2Visual Imagery
Think of 'oblique' as describing a line taking a unique path, veering off from the expected direction.
The trail took an oblique route through the forest.
Pro Tip 2/2Suggestive Hits
'Oblique' often indicates a hint or indirect suggestion towards something rather than being straightforward.
Her oblique statements made people guess her intentions.
Pro Tip 1/2Visual Imagery
Think of 'oblique' as describing a line taking a unique path, veering off from the expected direction.
The trail took an oblique route through the forest.
Pro Tip 2/2Suggestive Hits
'Oblique' often indicates a hint or indirect suggestion towards something rather than being straightforward.
Her oblique statements made people guess her intentions.
Pro Tip 1/2Visual Imagery
Think of 'oblique' as describing a line taking a unique path, veering off from the expected direction.
The trail took an oblique route through the forest.
Pro Tip 2/2Suggestive Hits
'Oblique' often indicates a hint or indirect suggestion towards something rather than being straightforward.
Her oblique statements made people guess her intentions.
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Video examples
C.K. Williams: Poetry...
Me shyly, obliquely, trying not to be furtive. She boldly, unblinkingly, even pugnaciously, wrathfully even, when her bottle was empty. I was frightened of her. I felt like a child. I was afraid some repressed part of myself
Video examples
C.K. Williams: Poetry...
Me shyly, obliquely, trying not to be furtive. She boldly, unblinkingly, even pugnaciously, wrathfully even, when her bottle was empty. I was frightened of her. I felt like a child. I was afraid some repressed part of myself
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Alan J. Pakula
American Director
I am oblique; I think that has to do with my own nature. I like trying to do things which work on many levels, because I think it is terribly important to give an audience a lot of things they might not get as well as those they will, so that finally the film does take on a texture and is not just simplistic communication.
Quote examples
Garth Nix
Australian Writer
Writing for children, you do bear a responsibility to not include overt or graphic adult content that they are not ready for and don't need, or to address adult concepts or themes from an oblique angle or a child's limited viewpoint, with appropriate context, without being graphic or distressing.
Quote examples
Chris Pavone
American Novelist
There's always something at least a little smug about self-reference - magazine articles about idealistic journalists, TV shows about TV actors, ironic films within ironic-er films: all this meta-media populated by thinly disguised characters making oblique inside jokes.
Quote examples
Denise Austin
American Author
Internal and external obliques form your sides and waist. Your external obliques sit closest to the surface toward the front of your waist, with the internal obliques sitting deeper and closer to your back. Toning them shrinks your waistline and love handles.
Quote examples
Paul Theroux
American Novelist
The impulse to write comes, I think, from a desire - perhaps a need - to give imaginative life to experience, to share it with the reader, not to cover up the truth but to deliver it obliquely.
Quote examples
Edward Hopper
American Artist
Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again become great.
Quote examples
Minna Antrim
American Writer
There never was a woman who did not prefer an oblique compliment to a straight truth - if the latter were unflattering.
Quote examples
John Grierson
British Director
The oblique paradox of propaganda is that the lie in the throat becomes, by repetition, the truth in the heart.
Quote examples
Frank Moore Colby
American Educator
Talk ought always to run obliquely, not nose to nose with no chance of mental escape.
Quote examples
Jeff Giles
American Editor
Scott Bradfield writes weird, oblique, unsettling stuff.
Quote examples
Alan J. Pakula
American Director
I am oblique; I think that has to do with my own nature. I like trying to do things which work on many levels, because I think it is terribly important to give an audience a lot of things they might not get as well as those they will, so that finally the film does take on a texture and is not just simplistic communication.
Quote examples
Garth Nix
Australian Writer
Writing for children, you do bear a responsibility to not include overt or graphic adult content that they are not ready for and don't need, or to address adult concepts or themes from an oblique angle or a child's limited viewpoint, with appropriate context, without being graphic or distressing.
Quote examples
Chris Pavone
American Novelist
There's always something at least a little smug about self-reference - magazine articles about idealistic journalists, TV shows about TV actors, ironic films within ironic-er films: all this meta-media populated by thinly disguised characters making oblique inside jokes.
Quote examples
Denise Austin
American Author
Internal and external obliques form your sides and waist. Your external obliques sit closest to the surface toward the front of your waist, with the internal obliques sitting deeper and closer to your back. Toning them shrinks your waistline and love handles.
Quote examples
Paul Theroux
American Novelist
The impulse to write comes, I think, from a desire - perhaps a need - to give imaginative life to experience, to share it with the reader, not to cover up the truth but to deliver it obliquely.
Quote examples
Edward Hopper
American Artist
Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again become great.
Quote examples
Minna Antrim
American Writer
There never was a woman who did not prefer an oblique compliment to a straight truth - if the latter were unflattering.
Quote examples
John Grierson
British Director
The oblique paradox of propaganda is that the lie in the throat becomes, by repetition, the truth in the heart.
Quote examples
Frank Moore Colby
American Educator
Talk ought always to run obliquely, not nose to nose with no chance of mental escape.
Quote examples
Jeff Giles
American Editor
Scott Bradfield writes weird, oblique, unsettling stuff.
Example 1 of 10
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