Secant

//ˈsiːkənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points.
  2. 2
    ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle wordnet
  3. 3
    In a right triangle, the reciprocal of the cosine of an angle. Symbol: sec
  4. 4
    a straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    That cuts or divides. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
air lineairlineargumentaxisbeelinechiasmal

Etymology

From Latin secāns, present participle of secō (“to cut”).

Related phrases

hyperbolic secantsecant methodright triangle

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