adj. 1. Relating to or composed of right angles. 2. Mathematics a. Of or relating to a matrix whose transpose equals its inverse. b. Of or relating to a linear transformation that preserves the length of vectors. 3. Very different or unrelated; sharply divergent: "Radical Islamists are ultimately seeking to create something orthogonal to our model of democracy" (Richard A. Clarke). [From Greek orthogōnios : ortho-, ortho- + gōniā, angle; see genu-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] or·thog′o·nali·ty (-nălĭ-tē) n. or·thogo·nal·ly adv. |
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