01 a. Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent.
-
1.
Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent.(Geom.)
Phrases & compounds
Tangential force —
a force which acts on a moving body in the direction of a tangent to the path of the body, its effect being to increase or diminish the velocity; -- distinguished from a normal force, which acts at right angles to the tangent and changes the direction of the motion without changing the velocity.