different between oblique vs zigzag

English

Etymology

From Middle French oblique, from Latin obl?quus (also spelled obl?cus) (“slanting, sideways, indirect, envious”)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??bli?k/
• IPA^(key): /o??bli?k/
• (US military command) IPA^(key): /??b?laik/
• Rhymes: -i?k
• Hyphenation: ob?lique

Adjective

oblique (comparative obliquer, superlative obliquest)

1. Not erect or perpendicular; not parallel to, or at right angles from, the base

   Synonyms: aslant, askew, slanting, inclined
2. Not straightforward; obscure or confusing
3. disingenuous; underhand; morally corrupt
4. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral.
5. (botany, of leaves) Having the base of the blade asymmetrical, with one side lower than the other.
6. (botany, of branches or roots) Growing at an angle that is neither vertical nor horizontal.
7. (grammar) Pertaining to the oblique case (non-nominative).
8. (grammar, of speech or narration) Indirect; employing the actual words of the speaker but as related by a third person, having the first person in pronoun and verb converted into the third person and adverbs of present time into the past, etc.
9. (music) Employing oblique motion, motion or progression in which one part (voice) stays on the same note while another ascends or descends.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

oblique (plural obliques)

1. (geometry) An oblique line.
2. (typography) Synonym of slash ?/?.
   • 1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240:

     Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like slant, slant line, slash, and slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as diagonal and diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation oblique.

   • 1990, John McDermott, Punctuation for Now, page 20:

     Other Chaucerian manuscripts had the virgule (or virgil or oblique: /) at the middle of lines.

3. (grammar) The oblique case.

Synonyms

• (typography): See slash

Derived terms

• oblique mark
• oblique stroke, stroke

Verb

oblique (third-person singular simple present obliques, present participle obliquing, simple past and past participle obliqued)

1. (intransitive) To deviate from a perpendicular line; to become askew;
2. (military) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; — formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.
3. (transitive, computing) To slant (text, etc.) at an angle.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obl?quus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.blik/

Adjective

oblique (plural obliques)

1. oblique

Derived terms

• barre oblique
• cas oblique

Verb

oblique

1. first-person singular present indicative of obliquer
2. third-person singular present indicative of obliquer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of obliquer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of obliquer
5. second-person singular imperative of obliquer

Further reading

• “oblique” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

oblique

1. feminine plural of obliquo

Latin

Adjective

obl?que

1. vocative masculine singular of obl?quus

References

• oblique in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• oblique in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• oblique in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Etymology

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /?z??.zæ?/

Noun

zigzag (plural zigzags)

1. a line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions
2. one of such sharp turns

Translations

Adjective

zigzag (not comparable)

1. Moving in, or having a zigzag.
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 6, pp. 78-79,^[1]

     His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.

Translations

Verb

zigzag (third-person singular simple present zigzags, present participle zigzagging, simple past and past participle zigzagged)

1. To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.
   • 2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:

     If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.

   Synonym: zig and zag

Translations

Adverb

zigzag (comparative more zigzag, superlative most zigzag)

1. in a zigzag manner or pattern

Translations

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French zigzag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?z?x.z?x/
• Hyphenation: zig?zag

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags, diminutive zigzagje n)

1. zigzag (line in a sawtooth pattern)

Derived terms

• zigzaggen

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zi?.za?/

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags)

1. zigzag

Romanian

Etymology

From French zigzag.

Noun

zigzag n (plural zigzaguri)

1. zigzag

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French zigzag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /?i???a?/, [?i????a??]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /si??sa?/, [si???sa??]

Noun

zigzag m (plural zigzags or zigzagues)

1. zigzag

Derived terms

• zigzagueo m
• zigzaguear
• zigzagueante

References

“zigzag” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.