lateralityn.
/ˌlatəˈralᵻti/, U.S. /ˌlædəˈrælədi/ 1.
a. The property, condition, or fact of having (distinct) sides, sidedness; right-sidedness or left-sidedness; an instance of this. Also: †the condition of being sideways (obsolete); the condition of being at or on the side (rare).
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1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. v. 192 We may as reasonably conclude a right and left laterallity in the Ark or navall edifice of Noah. View more context for this quotation
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Laterality, the side-being, or being side-ways of a thing.
1842 W. Griffith in Calcutta Jrnl. Nat. Hist. 2 471 I have approximated Pterogonium to Neckera, on account of its habit, and the laterality of its setæ.
1863 Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 1 59 Radiality, laterality, verticality, and longitudinality are, morphologically, peculiar to and characteristic of Radiates, Mollusks, Articulates, and Vertebrates respectively.
1873 R. Barnes Clin. Hist. Med. & Surg. Dis. Women xlii. 613 Abscess is rarely so distinctly retro-uterine as hæmatocele. In all the cases I have seen..there was some degree of laterality.
1875 E. Lommel Nature of Light 340 A circularly polarised ray may in fact, since its quality is the same all round, exhibit no laterality.
1913 J. C. Bose Res. Irritability Plants ii. 14 It is therefore absolutely necessary so to arrange matters that the electro-magnet shall be without laterality.
1916 Anat. Rec. 10 197 A limb bud from one side of the body implanted in the place of a bud previously removed on the opposite side, develops in a large proportion of cases..into a limb of the side to which it has been transplanted, i.e., its laterality is reversed.
2008 E. Goldmuntz & A. E. Lin in Moss & Adams' Heart Dis. Infants, Children & Adolescents (ed. 7) I. xxvi. 564/2 Many genes have also been found in animal models to participate in the establishment of asymmetry and laterality in the embryo.
b. Medicine. Asymmetry of the right and left sides of the body (with regard to cutaneous sensitivity, growth, etc.); an instance of this. rare.
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the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > [noun]
right side1642
laterality1885
the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > [noun] > fact of having distinct sides
laterality1885
1885 Science 6 Nov. 415/1 The male blind are more sensitive on the left side, the females on the right. Their ‘laterality’ and prevalence of left-sidedness allies them to abnormal classes.
1894 G. M. Gould Illustr. Dict. Med. Laterality, excessive development on one side.
1905 J. W. Ballantyne Man. Antenatal Pathol. & Hygiene 259 Walking may be interfered by the laterality of the body which causes some obliquity of the pelvis.
c. Medicine. The condition or fact of being limited or confined to one side of the body or an organ, esp. the brain. Cf. lateral adj. 8.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > [noun] > effect on one side of body only
unilaterality1844
laterality1938
1938 Bull. Neurol. Inst. N.Y. 7 201 (title) The laterality of signs and symptoms in a series of pathologically verified tumors of the brain.
1950 Brain 73 168 They state that the direction and extent of deformation varied simply with the laterality of the lesion; deviations in right-sided cases were in an anti-clockwise direction..; in cases with left-sided lesions, they were in the opposite direction.
1998 S. C. Morris Crucible of Creation vi. 156 Rather remarkably there is a marked preponderance of dextral attacks. This bias, which is an example of what is known as laterality, is familiar to us because of the preponderance of right-handed humans.
2. Preferred use or superior performance of the left or right hand, foot, eye, or ear (or any combination of these); an instance of this. Also: localization of a particular function (to a greater degree) in the left or right cerebral cortex; cf. lateralization n. 2.
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1922 Arch. Neurol. & Psychiatry 7 358 Thus an intimate relation appears to exist between left laterality and a type of mental organization prevalent in musicians.
1927 Biometrika 19 181 There is no evidence whatever of even a correlation between ocular and manual lateralities to say nothing of a master eye determining which is the master hand.
1937 S. T. Orton Reading, Writing & Speech Probl. in Children i. 48 We have no guide..as to which is the dominant hemisphere except the ‘laterality’ of the individual, that is, his handedness, eyedness and footedness.
1971 Nature 23 Apr. 524/1 Although usually used when speech dominance is questionable, amobarbital testing is also indicated in persons with apparently well established laterality when they are to undergo commissural section.
1995 M. Garber Vice Versa ii. xii. 290 He insists that sinister laterality, willful left-handedness, is not inherited but chosen, a preference, not an orientation.
2010 M. F. Lenzenweger Schizotypy & Schizophrenia ii. 48 Laterality was often clinically assessed in somewhat subjective fashion (e.g., asking a patient which hand he or she uses for writing or taking a list of hand use preferences across a wide variety of tasks).
3. Phonetics. Lateral articulation (see lateral adj. 11).
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > speech sound by manner > [noun] > sonant > liquid > lateral > quality
unilaterality1844
laterality1953
1953 C. E. Bazell Ling. Form 41 A voiced (or voiceless) character of l is not regarded as relevant even in languages in which voice is functionally discrete, on the grounds that it is not of functional relevance in combination with laterality.
1984 R. Lass Phonol. vi. 122 Features like laterality or velar suction may never need to be anything but binary at the phonological level.
2009 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 75 84 The first factor is the place of articulation of the consonant—labial, coronal, or dorsal, with the coronals further distinguished by laterality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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