Lateralness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being situated at or extending to the side
2. A characteristic that pertains to the sides of an object or organism
3. Relating to a position or movement away from the center towards the edges or flanks

Etymology: The core is the Latin "latus", meaning "side" or "broad". The same stem gives English "latitude", a measure of breadth, and "dilate", which comes from a Latin verb meaning to spread apart. "Lateralis", the adjective built on that noun, meant belonging to the side, and English took "lateral" with that sense of lying along a side rather than in front or behind. The ending is the English suffix "-ness", from Old English "-nes", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The noun therefore names the state of being lateral. The meaning given here, movement toward the edges or flanks, applies the adjective's sense of sideways position to a direction or motion, and the noun carries that sense forward.

Synonyms: sideways orientation, side position

Antonyms: centralness, medialness