FromLatinsubtendere, fromsub(“under”) +tendere(“to stretch, extend”), itself asemantic loan fromAncient Greekὑποτείνω(hupoteínō,“to subtend”), from whichhypotenuse also derives. Seetend.
subtend (third-person singular simple presentsubtends,present participlesubtending,simple past and past participlesubtended)
- (transitive, mathematics) To use anangle todelimit (mark off,enclose) part of a straight or curved line, for example anarc or the oppositeside of a triangle.
A 43° anglesubtends an arc of about 0.75 meters on a circle with aradius of 1 meter.
- (transitive, also mathematics) Toextend orstretchopposite something; to be part of a straight or curved line that is opposite to and delimits an angle.
A hypotenusesubtends the right angle of a right triangle.
An arc measuring about 0.75 meters on a circle with aradius of 1 metersubtends an angle of about 43°.
2012 August 16, “Me, myself, us”, inThe Economist, issue:[…] trillions of bacteria, each equally an individual, which are found in a person’s gut, his mouth, his scalp, his skin and all of the crevices and orifices thatsubtend from his body’s surface.
- (transitive, mathematics) To form thecentral angle of acircle underneath anarc.
The points A and B on the circumference form the arc AB, whichsubtends the central angle θ.
- (botany, transitive) To stand beneath or close to, as abract at the base of aflower.
to use an angle to delimit part of a straight or curved line
to extend or stretch opposite something, often to delimit an angle
