vector means A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points. It carries an Arena rating of 1518, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, vector ranks #59 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,482 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,442 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #4,619 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
vector is pronounced /ˈvɛktə/.
Why “vector” is a great word
A quantity defined by both a magnitude and a direction, or more broadly, any element within a formalized space of such entities. From Latin vector ("one who carries or conveys, carrier"), from vehere ("to carry, convey"), with the mathematical sense introduced by William Rowan Hamilton in the mid-19th century. Unlike a scalar, a mere amount devoid of orientation, or a tensor, a more abstract and multi-dimensional generalization, a vector is a directed line, an arrow in space. It is the wind pushing a sail, the precise step on a grid to go home, the applied force that tips the domino and begins the fall—an elegant notation for any push, pull, or progression through the world, the silent geometry of intent.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“to carry, transport, bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle. The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.
noun
- A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.e.g.“Velocity is a vector defined by the speed of an object and its direction.”
- A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.; Any member of a (generalized) vector space.e.g.“The vectors in #123;#92;mathbbQ#125;#91;X#93; are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is #92;textstylex#123;42#125;#43;#92;frac1#123;137#125;x-1.”
- A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.; An ordered tuple, originally one representing a directed quantity, but by extension any one-dimensional matrix.e.g.“Computers store many types of data as vectors for ease of processing.”
- A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.; A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.e.g.“I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast.” — 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:
- A kind of dynamically resizable array.e.g.“To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […]” — 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694:
- A kind of dynamically resizable array.; A memory address containing the address of a code entry point, usually one which is part of a table and often one that is dereferenced and jumped to during the execution of an interrupt.
- A kind of dynamically resizable array.; A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.e.g.“a vector image, vector graphics”
- A carrier of a disease-causing agent.; A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.
- A carrier of a disease-causing agent.; A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.e.g.“These days, their primary job is to insist that Facebook is a fun place to share baby photos and sell old couches, not a vector for hate speech, misinformation, and violent extremist propaganda.” — 2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker:
- A carrier of a disease-causing agent.; A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
- Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)
verb
- To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.e.g.“[…] if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor's here flies toward Marianne, Marianne's in turn toward Willoughby.” — 1994, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies:
- To redirect to a vector, or code entry point.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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