subtend

[ suhb-tend, suhb- ]

verb (used with object)

1. Geometry. to extend under or be opposite to:

   a chord subtending an arc.

2. Botany. (of a leaf, bract, etc.) to occur beneath or close to.
3. to form or mark the outline or boundary of.

subtend

/ səbˈtɛnd /

verb

1. geometry to be opposite to and delimit (an angle or side)
2. (of a bract, stem, etc) to have (a bud or similar part) growing in its axil
3. to mark off
4. to underlie; be inherent in

Word History and Origins

Origin of subtend¹

1560–70; < Latin subtendere to stretch beneath, equivalent to sub- sub- + tendere to stretch; tend ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of subtend¹

C16: from Latin subtendere to extend beneath, from sub- + tendere to stretch out

Example Sentences

Because all stars are so far away, the light that reaches Earth from each of them and falls on your retina subtends an area smaller than that of a single photoreceptor.

From Scientific American

What sump of literal-mindedness must subtend a sensibility so obtuse as to miss the fact, even on the first page of this essay about the curdling of nineteen-sixties counterculture, that the telling doesn’t work?

From The New Yorker

The critical central retina subtends an area of visual space of about 1 square degree of visual angle.

From Scientific American

The most indecent fake is the one Evans proclaimed “Our Lady of the Sports,” an ivory statue whose bare breasts are subtended by a gold bustier, and whose hips are framed with a gender-blurring codpiece.

From New York Times

Emerging from a half-moon-shaped spathe, two bright blue petals are subtended by a nearly transparent, milky white smaller petal.

From New York Times

Related Words

• span
• traverse
• unite