Obliquity

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈblɪkwɪti/

Definitions

1. A state of being slanted or angled rather than straight ; a departure from honesty or moral correctness ; the angle between an astronomical body's equator and orbital plane
2. The condition of lying at a slant instead of upright ; a divergence from ethical standards or truth ; the measured tilt of a celestial object's rotational axis
3. The quality of being inclined or inclined from the perpendicular ; a lapse in integrity or truthfulness ; the angular difference causing seasons or climate variations in astronomy

Etymology: Latin "obliquus" meant "slanting, sideways, indirect," and it is the root of "oblique." Its abstract noun "obliquitas" passed into Middle French as "obliquité," and English took the word from there. The literal sense of physical slant came first, and the figurative senses of indirectness and moral deviation grew out of it, as when a crooked course in conduct is described as a departure from the straight path. The astronomical sense shows the same geometry at work. The obliquity of a planet is the angle its equator makes with the plane of its orbit, so a planet with high obliquity is tipped sharply on its axis, which is why its seasons are extreme. Earth's obliquity, roughly 23.5 degrees, is the tilt responsible for our summers and winters.

Synonyms: deviation, obliqueness, slant, angle, inclination

Antonyms: straightness, directness, perpendicularity, right angle, normality