How to Use perpendicular in a Sentence

perpendicular

1 of 2 adjective
  • She lives on the street that is perpendicular to mine.
  • If the lever is perpendicular to the gas line, the gas valve is shut off.
    — Timothy Dale, The Spruce, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Both bent out at the knees, his shins perpendicular to his thighs.
    — Hazlitt, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Let your free arm hang perpendicular to the ground, weight in hand.
    — Esther Smith, Outside Online, 9 Jan. 2022
  • Edge-grain boards are made from pieces of wood cut perpendicular to the ground.
    — Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2021
  • The sled should lay perpendicular to the rails and across both.
    — Jean Levasseur, Popular Science, 21 Mar. 2023
  • The tips of the V notch should just touch the line perpendicular to it.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Think of a road that runs perpendicular to the water, then stops.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 28 July 2021
  • Hold the knife perpendicular to the wedge and cut it into ¼-inch-wide pieces.
    — Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The plane began to fly straight up, perpendicular to the ground.
    — Mike Miller, EW.com, 23 Aug. 2022
  • To do this, your forearms should be perpendicular to the ground.
    — Men's Health, 8 Feb. 2023
  • The other way to tell if a knife is sharp is to run it perpendicular to your thumbnail.
    — Craig Caudill, Field & Stream, 12 July 2023
  • Keep your arms straight, at shoulder height, and perpendicular to the floor.
    — Sarah Felbin, Women's Health, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Tuck your tailbone so that your pelvis is perpendicular to your spine, draw your ribs down, and brace your core.
    — Men's Health, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Turn the peach slices perpendicular to your paring knife blade.
    — Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Sep. 2022
  • The garden’s four long rows grow perpendicular to the street.
    — Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 17 Aug. 2022
  • Work to get a deep stretch at the bottom—the goal is to get your forearms perpendicular to the ground.
    — Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 22 Apr. 2023
  • Lower back to the point where your forearms are just about perpendicular with the ground.
    — Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 28 Sep. 2022
  • Place the fish fillet skin-side down, perpendicular to grates.
    — Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2021
  • The design of this board feels like it was made to stand perpendicular to the ground, like snowboards.
    — Zane Pickett, Forbes, 12 Aug. 2022
  • This motion could be towards you, away from you, or perpendicular to your line-of-sight.
    — Ethan Siegel, Forbes, 1 Sep. 2021
  • Swimbaits with tails that are perpendicular to their body make the most action.
    — Pete M. Anderson, Field & Stream, 20 Mar. 2023
  • The steak variant is cut crosswise and is perpendicular to the spine.
    — Angela Watson, chicagotribune.com, 5 Mar. 2021
  • That’s where the mountains, stretching from east to west perpendicular to the storm, come in.
    — Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2024
  • Hold the scraper firmly with the blade perpendicular to the wood.
    — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 1 May 2021
  • Make a second set of cuts perpendicular to those, going lengthwise from the top of the onion to the root end.
    — Sarah Jampel, Bon Appétit, 17 May 2021
  • Slice against that, perpendicular to the lines, to shorten the muscle fibers.
    — Robin Miller, AZCentral.com, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Some like to face the window, but if that proves too distracting, put the desk perpendicular to it.
    — Jessica Dailey, House Beautiful, 15 Dec. 2020
  • Place the asparagus in an even layer perpendicular to the length of the dish.
    — Christopher Kimball, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Apr. 2023
  • Repeat with a third perpendicular strip, folding back the strips that were folded back the first time.
    — Washington Post, 13 July 2021

perpendicular

2 of 2 noun
  • Hold the knife perpendicular to the wedge and cut it into ¼-inch-wide pieces.
    — Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Feb. 2024
  • Aim to keep your forearm perpendicular to the floor, and keep your abs and shoulder blades tight.
    — Men's Health, 7 July 2023
  • Set the other sheet in the pan perpendicular to the first, pressing it into the edges.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2021
  • Lie on your right side with your forearm under your shoulder, your hand perpendicular to your body, and your legs stacked.
    — Health Editorial Team, Health, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Groins are devices built of rock or concrete perpendicular to the beach, designed to catch and hold the longshore flow of sand.
    — Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Keep your upper arm perpendicular to the ground throughout the movement.
    — Brett Williams, Men's Health, 31 May 2023
  • All this means is running a finesse hook directly through the center of the bait perpendicular to the body.
    — Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
  • For the first drill, called a garland drill, choose a gentle groomed run and ski perpendicular across the fall line, from one side of the run to the other.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Lay 2 longest strips across center of pie perpendicular to each other.
    — ABC News, 29 June 2026
  • Position yourself with your weak side perpendicular to the cable pulley, about an arm’s length away.
    — Mark Jannot, Outside Online, 24 Feb. 2022
  • Water can return to sea via a rip current, a narrow jet of water moving away from shore perpendicular to the shoreline.
    — Emily Deletter, USA TODAY, 25 June 2024
  • Most people will place their rug perpendicular to their bed; the size will often come down to the dimensions of the room and how your furniture is laid out.
    — Kelsey Mulvey, ELLE Decor, 13 July 2023
  • Second Movement Next, place the roller behind you and lay down over it; this time with the roller perpendicular to your spine.
    — Jennifer Shanker, Flow Space, 18 Dec. 2025
  • Place the vegetables on the grill perpendicular to the grates and cook until lightly charred on all sides, about 10 minutes.
    — Washington Post, 2 Sep. 2021
  • Rest right elbow on floor directly below right shoulder, with right forearm perpendicular to body and palm resting on the ground.
    — Megan Falk, Women's Health, 28 June 2023
  • The other filament perpendicular to the curve is from yet another piece of debris.
    — Jennifer Welsh, Discover Magazine, 14 Oct. 2010
  • Get into a half kneeling position with the anchor directly on your left side facing perpendicular to the line of the band.
    — Jay Dicharry, Outside Online, 15 Sep. 2020
  • The racer is traversing the hill perpendicular to the fall line, almost moving in an upward direction.
    — Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Position the prop perpendicular to your body and under your glutes so that its upper edge aligns with your iliac crests (the top ridges of your pelvis) below your low back.
    — Hayden Carpenter, Outside Online, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Photos from the scene showed the plane perpendicular to highway lanes about 75 miles south of San Francisco.
    — CBS News, 18 Feb. 2018
  • There will be a natural fold in the top right side of the paper; pull this side out with your right hand and press down so the crease forms a line perpendicular to the top right vertical corner of the box.
    — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Nov. 2025
  • The motors stay fixed relative to the wing surface, and the whole wing rotates from a position perpendicular to the ground for takeoff to parallel for cruise.
    — Omar Kardoudi june 21, New Atlas, 21 June 2026
  • Made almost entirely of water ice, the rings extend out in a startlingly flat plane perpendicular to the planet’s orbital axis.
    — Tom Hawking, Popular Science, 30 Oct. 2025
  • One of those was Cheryl Petersen, who lives on Newberry, a street perpendicular to 31st.
    — Jesse Wright, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2025
  • The report cited video from a surveillance camera that was located on the ramp perpendicular to runway 18.
    — Daniel McFadin, Arkansas Online, 18 Mar. 2023
  • In the simulations, the team first found that stabilimenta had no effect on waves from the force of an object landing perpendicular to the web or hitting it from the side toward the center.
    — Andrea Tamayo, Scientific American, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Most electric vehicles use a radial flux design, in which a tubular stator spins inside a hollow tubular housing perpendicular to the motor shaft.
    — New Atlas, 25 June 2025
  • In such an environment, portions of the bubble pushing perpendicular to the slab would have quickly spilled into the lower-density regions above and below.
    — Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Asitimbay skidded out, lost control of his car and crashed into the center median before coming to a rest back in the right lane, the Camry perpendicular to traffic, cops said.
    — Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • When crossing intersections, ride perpendicular to tram lines, as bike tires can easily get stuck in them, sending even the most experienced riders flying over the handlebars.
    — Georgina Ustik, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'perpendicular.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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