rectilinearlyadv.
/ˌrɛktᵻˈlɪnɪəli/, U.S. /ˌrɛktəˈlɪniərli/ In a straight line or straight lines.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [adverb] > straight or due > straight or in a straight line
straightly1395
line-rightc1400
evenlonga1475
fair1490
straight1535
lineally1536
point-blank1607
straightwards1644
straightish1683
rectilinearly1729
straightways1772
linearly1881
1729 J. Chandler Disc. conc. Small Pox 48 As this external Membrane or Skin is compos'd of several Lamina or Coats, 'tis not so probable that the Pores should run rectilinearly through all.
1802 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 24 Such a general undulation would in all cases proceed rectilinearly.
a1849 E. A. Poe Eureka in Wks. (1857) II. 143 They [sc. atoms] all tend rectilinearly towards a centre, because of the sphericity with which they have been irradiated into space.
1874 W. Froude in Encycl. Brit. (1886) XXI. 811/2 The particles..are capable of gliding rectilinearly along a perfectly smooth surface.
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) iv. i. 49 Particles projected rectilinearly from radioactive substances.
1986 R. L. Brewster Telecommunications Technol. x. 174 Perhaps one of the most important properties of microwave radio signals is that they propagate rectilinearly.
2001 G. Auletta Found. & Interpr. Quantum Mech. (rev. ed.) x. xliii. 744 By using the first basis, rectilinearly polarised photons preserve their polarization direction, whereas diagonally polarised photons randomly change their polarization to one of the two rectilinear polarizations.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1729