adj ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Not lying on a straight line. not-comparable
2. 2
   Whose atoms do not lie in a straight line. not-comparable
3. 3
   Having a product of independent variables, or a variable with an exponent not equal to one. not-comparable
4. 4
   Whose output is not directly proportional to its input. not-comparable
5. 5
   Erratic and unpredictable; tending to jump back and forth. not-comparable

   "a film with a nonlinear plot"

Adjective

1. 1
   designating or involving an equation whose terms are not of the first degree wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

brokenbroken offchoppydisconnecteddiscontinueddiscontinuous

Antonyms

All antonyms

linear

Example

More examples

"In general, little is known about nonlinear second order differential equations."

Etymology

From non- + linear.

Related phrases

nonlinear editingnonlinear editorstraight line

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.