radial

[ rey-dee-uhl ]

adjective

1. arranged like radii or rays.
2. having spokes, bars, lines, etc., arranged like radii, as a machine.
3. made in the direction of a radius; going from the center outward or from the circumference inward along a radius:

   a radial cut.

4. Zoology. pertaining to structures that radiate from a central point, as the arms of a starfish.
5. of, like, or pertaining to a radius or a ray.
6. Machinery.
   1. having pistons moving inward and outward from a central point or shaft:

      a radial engine; a radial pump.

   2. noting a bearing designed primarily to take thrusts radial to the center of rotation.
7. Anatomy, Entomology. of, relating to, or situated near the radius.
8. acting along or in the direction of the radius of a circle:

   radial motion; radial velocity.

noun

1. a radial section or construction.
2. Automotive. radial tire.

radial

/ ˈreɪdɪəl /

adjective

1. (of lines, bars, beams of light, etc) emanating from a common central point; arranged like the radii of a circle
2. of, like, or relating to a radius or ray
3. spreading out or developing uniformly on all sides
4. of or relating to the arms of a starfish or similar radiating structures
5. anatomy of or relating to the radius or forearm
6. See tangential
   astronomy (of velocity) in a direction along the line of sight of a celestial object and measured by means of the red shift (or blue shift) of the spectral lines of the object Compare tangential

noun

1. a radial part or section
2. zoology
   1. any of the basal fin rays of most bony fishes
   2. a radial or radiating structure, such as any of the ossicles supporting the oral disc of a sea star
3. See radial drilling machine, radial tyre
   short for radial tyre radial drilling machine

Derived Forms

• ˈradially, adverb

Other Words From

• radi·ali·ty noun
• radi·al·ly adverb
• multi·radi·al adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of radial¹

1560–70; < Medieval Latin radiālis, equivalent to Latin radi ( us ) beam, ray ( radius ) + -ālis -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of radial¹

C16: from Medieval Latin radiālis from radius

Example Sentences

Scientists can look for that wobbling, a method called radial velocity measurement.

From Science News For Students

Other telescopes—both space-based and Earth-based—use what’s known as the radial-velocity method.

From Time

This meant significant progress over measuring the orbiting stars’ velocity in two dimensions by providing the “critical third dimension” of their radial, or 3D, motion.

From MIT Technology Review

The team then tested the rats’ memory by having them swim through a radial arm water maze containing six arms, including one with a hidden platform.

From Popular-Science

His instrument used a clever new way to hunt for other worlds, called the radial velocity technique.

From Science News

A quadrant of a circle is one quarter of the same, being bounded on two of its sides by two radial lines, as in Figure 49.

From Project Gutenberg

In kangaroo rats, which are saltators, the index rises to more than 100 owing to the lengthening of the radial component.

From Project Gutenberg

They were in a section of the passage now that corresponded roughly to the statue's radial artery.

From Project Gutenberg

The lower bars are probably meant for teeth; what the radial lines on the crown are supposed to be is again conjecture.

From Project Gutenberg

The hand of an emaciated individual may be readily injected, both arteries and veins, by fixing the pipe in the radial artery.

From Project Gutenberg