lineal

From Old French lineal, from Latin līneālis, from līnea (“a line”) +‎ -ālis (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, line +‎ -al. Doublet of linear.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪni.əl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪniːəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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lineal (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to a line.
2. Composed of lines; delineated.

   lineal designs

3. In the direction of a line; of a line; of or relating to a line; measured on, or ascertained by, a line; linear.

   lineal magnitude

4. Having the quality of proceeding, either physically or conceptually, according to a given rationale or other controlling principles of belief, opinion, practice, or phenomenon.
5. (anthropological and sociological): Having an ancestral relationship to mothers, fathers, grandparents, (etc.) and having a descendant relationship to sons, daughters, grandchildren (etc.), exclusive of collateral siblings.
   • 1689 December (indicated as 1690), , chapter 1, in Two Treatises of Government: , London: Awnsham Churchill, , →OCLC:

     the prime and ancient right of lineal succession

6. (anthropological, sociological, legal): Inheriting by direct descent; having the right by direct descent to succeed (to).
   • 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,:

     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.

• collateral

• (of a line): areal, spacial, spatial

• line
• linear
• lineage

• “lineal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “lineal”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• lienal, nillae

Borrowed from Latin līneālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia)
• Rhymes: -al

lineal m or f (masculine and feminine plural lineals)

1. linear

   Synonym: linear

• linealitat
• linealment

• “lineal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies , 2007 April
• “lineal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “lineal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “lineal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:

lineal

Wikipedia ^da

From Latin linealis, from linea (“line”).

• IPA^(key):

lineal c (singular definite linealen, plural indefinite linealer)

1. a ruler (measuring or drawing device)
2. (figurative) used to denote that someone or something is (too) straight, regular and regulated

• “lineal” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Latin līneālis.

lineal m or f (plural lineais)

1. linear

   Synonym: linear

• linealidade

• liña

• “lineal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Learned borrowing from Latin līneālis.

lineal m or f (plural lineais)

1. linear

   Synonym: linear

• “lineal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

From Latin līneālis.

• IPA^(key): /lineˈal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: li‧ne‧al

lineal m or f (masculine and feminine plural lineales)

1. linear

   Synonym: linear

• “lineal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy , 2024 December 10