oblique
adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Not erect or perpendicular.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhbleekSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əbˈlik
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not straightforward; indirect; by implication; (sometimes even) obscure, ambiguous, or confusing.
Not erect or perpendicular; not parallel to, or at right angles from, the base.
Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral.
Disingenuous; underhand; morally corrupt.
verb
intransitive
To deviate from a perpendicular line; to become askew.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not erect or perpendicular; not parallel to, or at right angles from, the base.
Used this way, oblique is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a mathematical use: it is defined precisely and belongs to working with figures and calculations rather than to ordinary conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Mathematics
- Geometry
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use oblique
- “The oblique rays of the winter sun.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Pertaining / grammatical
Direct
Indirect
Diagonally
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any grammatical case other than the nominative.
A triangle that contains no right angle.
A tributary of the coronary sinus.
A bandage in which successive turns proceed obliquely up or down a limb.
An angle that is not a right angle or a multiple of a right angle.
A diagonally arranged abdominal muscle on either side of the torso.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: not straightforward
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.