Tangential /(?)/
Tan·gen·tial
Tangential
a.
- Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent. (Geom.)
Phrases & Compounds
- Tangential force
- a force which acts on a moving body in the direction of a tangent to the path of the body, its effect being to increase or diminish the velocity; -- distinguished from a normal force, which acts at right angles to the tangent and changes the direction of the motion without changing the velocity.
- Tangential stress
- See Shear, n., 3.