lineal
adjUS /ˈlɪni.əl/ · UK /ˈlɪniːəl/
Etymology From Old French lineal, from Latin līneālis, from līnea (“a line”) + -ālis (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, line + -al. Doublet of linear.
1
Pertaining to lines; consisting of lines.
2
Anthropology, History, Human sciences, Law, Sciences Relating to aspects of lineage, such as descent, succession, inheritance or consanguinity.
- the prime and ancient right of lineal succession1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 1, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:
- Oh that your Brows my Laurel had ſuſtain'd, / Well had I been depos'd, if You had Reign'd! / The Father had deſcended for the Son; / For only you are lineal to the Throne.1693 (first performance), John Dryden, “To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve, on His Comedy, Call’d, The Double-Dealer”, in The Double-Dealer. A Comedy, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1735, →OCLC, Act I,:
3
Uncommon In the direction of a line; measured or ascertained by a line.
- lineal magnitude
5
Media, Publishing, Typography Of a typeface Sans serif.
- Antonyms
- collateral
- Derived terms
- ambilineal, bilineal, lineality, lineally, matrilineal, multilineal, nonlineal, patrilineal, polylineal, rectilineal, unilineal, unlineal