Orthogonally

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner characterized by being at right angles
2. In a way that forms a right angle to something else
3. Describing an orientation perpendicular to a reference point or line

Etymology: The adverb "orthogonally" is simply the adjective "orthogonal" with the suffix "-ly" attached, and the suffix itself has a long history. The "-ly" ending descends from an Old English "-līċe", which was a shortened form of the older "-līc" (meaning "body-like" or "form-like") with an adverbial ending. Its ancestors reach back to Proto-Germanic "*-līkô", so the same ending that turns "quick" into "quickly" is one of the oldest English word-forming tools there is. The adjective "orthogonal" was built from Greek roots. "Ortho-" means "straight" or "right", and "-gonal" comes from "gōnia", meaning "angle", so the word literally describes right angles. Mathematicians adopted it to describe lines or vectors that meet at a right angle, and it was later extended to describe things that are independent of one another. "Orthogonally" is therefore the manner of being set at right angles, a sense that carries over from the geometry of the Greek roots.

Synonyms: perpendicularly, at right angles, crosswise

Antonyms: parallelly, obliquely