A line, curve, or surface meeting another line, curve, or surface at a common point and sharing a common tangent line or tangent plane at that point.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
A sudden digression or change of course: went off on a tangent during the courtroom argument.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Mathematics The trigonometric function of an acute angle in a right triangle that is the ratio of the length of the side opposite the angle to the length of the side adjacent to the angle.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Music An upright pin in a keyboard instrument, especially in a clavichord, that rises to sound a string when a key is depressed and stops the string at a preset length to set the pitch.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
The trigonometric function that for an acute angle is the ratio between the leg opposite to the angle when it is considered part of a right triangle and the leg adjacent.
from Free Scrabble Dictionary
adjective
Irrelevant.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Making contact at a single point or along a line; touching but not intersecting.
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Meeting a curve or surface in a single point if a sufficiently small interval is considered.
from Free Scrabble Dictionary
Having a common tangent line at a point.
from Free Scrabble Dictionary
Having a common tangent plane at a point.
from Free Scrabble Dictionary
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