| Tangent 1. (a.) Touching at a single point. 2. (n.) A tangent line curve, or surface; specifically, that portion of the straight line tangent to a curve that is between the point of tangency and a given line, the given line being, for example, the axis of abscissas, or a radius of a circle produced. See Function. 3. (a.) meeting a curve or surface at a point and having at that point the same direction as the curve or surface; -- said of a straight line, curve, or surface; as, a line tangent to a curve; a curve tangent to a surface; tangent surfaces. Thesaurus Entries abutter, adjoiner, air line, approach, asymptote, axis, beeline, borderer, bottleneck, bystander, chord, collision course, concentralization, concentration, concourse, concurrence, confluence, conflux, congress, convergence, converging, crossing, diagonal, diameter, direct line, directrix, edge, focalization, focus, funnel, great-circle course, hub, immediate neighbor, looker-on, meeting, mutual approach, narrowing gap, neighbor, neighborer, normal, onlooker, perpendicular, radius, radius vector, right line, secant, segment, shortcut, side, spokes, straight, straight course, straight line, straight stretch, straightaway, streamline, transversal, vector |