straightness

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Related to straightness: flatness

straight

(strāt)

adj. straight·er, straight·est

1. Extending continuously in the same direction without curving: a straight line.

2. Having no waves or bends: straight hair.

a. Not bent or bowed; rigid or erect: a straight, strong back.

b. Sports Of or relating to a midair position in diving or gymnastics in which the body is held rigid without bending at the hips or knees and the feet are kept together.

4. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; level or even: The mirror isn't straight.

a. Direct and candid: a straight answer.

b. Following a direct or correct method or approach; systematic: straight reasoning.

c. Coming from a reliable source; factual: a straight tip; straight information.

a. Showing or marked by honesty or fair-mindedness: straight business dealings.

b. Right; correct: made sure the facts were straight in the report.

7. Neatly arranged; orderly: The room is straight again.

a. Uninterrupted; consecutive: sick for five straight days; their fourth straight victory.

b. Having the parts or details in correct sequence.

c. Games Constituting a straight in poker.

9. Characterized by undeviating support, as of a principle or a political party: always votes a straight party line; a straight Democrat.

10.

a. Not deviating from what is considered socially normal, usual, or acceptable; conventional.

b. Conventional to an extreme degree.

11. Heterosexual.

12. Slang Not being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

13.

a. Not deviating from the normal or strict form: straight Freudian analysis.

b. Not altered, embellished, or modified: does straight comedy.

14.

a. Concerned with serious or important matters: a straight drama without comedy or music.

b. Of or relating to a straight man.

15. Not mixed with anything else; undiluted: straight bourbon.

16. Sold without discount regardless of the amount purchased.

adv.

1. In a straight line; directly.

2. In an erect posture; upright.

3. Sports In the straight position, as in diving.

4. Without detour or delay: went straight home.

5. Without circumlocution; candidly: I'll say it to you straight: you're wrong.

6. In a neat and orderly condition: put the living room straight.

7. In an honest, law-abiding, or virtuous manner: lives straight.

8. Without stopping; continuously: walked six hours straight.

9. Without embellishment or modification: tell the joke straight.

10. Without ice, water, or a mixer: drink whiskey straight.

a. The straight part, as of a road: "The car darted forward on to the straight" (Kingsley Amis).

b. The straight part of a racecourse between the winning post and the last turn.

2. A straight line.

3. A straight form or position.

4. Games A poker hand containing five cards of various suits in numerical sequence, ranked above three of a kind and below a flush.

5. A conventional person, especially one considered a member of established society.

6. A heterosexual person.

Idiom:

straight up

Served without ice, especially if chilled: whiskey straight up.

[Middle English, from past participle of strecchen, to stretch; see stretch.]

straight′ly adv.

straight′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Straightness

See Also: POSTURE

Direct, like a guided torpedo —William Humphrey
Erect as compass in its curve —Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Even as a row of West Point cadets on parade —Arthur Baer
Even as a set of false teeth —Arthur Baer
(Noses … ) even as buttons on a tape —Beryl Markham
Straight as a column —Louis Adamic
Straight as a gun barrel (she carried her lengthy shadow up and down the golden sand) —Jean Stafford
(Walks) straight as a hoe —T. Coraghessan Boyle
(A woman) straight as a hunting knife —Stephen Vincent Benet
Straight as a line —Geoffrey Chaucer
This is transcribed from Chaucer’s Old English: “Streight as any lyne.” An American folk variant said to originate in Maine is the much-used “Straight as a ramrod.”
Straight as an arrow —Aphra Behn
A simile much in use, both to describe physical and moral erectness. To emphasize the latter meaning there’s “Straight as your sister” attributed to Jerome Barry.
(Teeth … ) straight as a picket fence —Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Straight as a plumb line —Mike Sommer
Straight as a stick and looked as brittle —V. S. Pritchett
(I felt her to be) straight as a die —Colette
Straight as a fir tree —Henry Van Dyke
(The country road is wide, light gray,) straight as a ruler —Cora Sandel
[Lower eyelids] straight as ruler edges —Dashiell Hammett
Straight as the backbone of a herring —John Ray’s Proverbs
Straight like a pine —Joseph Conrad
Straight … like long rows of soldiers —Oscar Wilde
Straight, thin as a pencil —Miller Williams
This marks the opening of a poem entitled The Writer.
See Also: THINNESS
(His two rifles as) upright as umbrellas —Edward Hoagland

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	straightness - (of hair) lack of a tendency to curl curvature, curve - the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface curliness, waviness - (of hair) a tendency to curl
	2.	straightness - freedom from crooks or curves or bends or angles shape, configuration, conformation, contour, form - any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline); "he could barely make out their shapes" crookedness - having or distinguished by crooks or curves or bends or angles
	3.	straightness - trueness of course toward a goal; "rivaling a hawk in directness of aim" directness characteristic - a distinguishing quality downrightness, straightforwardness - the quality of being direct and straightforward; "what some people take for rudeness is really straightforwardness" immediacy, immediateness - lack of an intervening or mediating agency; "the immediacy of television coverage" pointedness - the quality of being obviously directed at a particular person or thing; "the pointedness of his sarcasm was unmistakable"
	4.	straightness - having honest intentions; "he acted in good faith"; "doubt was expressed as to the good faith of the immigrants" good faith honestness, honesty - the quality of being honest
	5.	straightness - a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the opposite sex heterosexualism, heterosexuality sex activity, sexual activity, sexual practice - activities associated with sexual intercourse; "they had sex in the back seat"

Translations

إسْتِقامَه

pořádekpřímost

ærlighed

Geradheit Geradlinigkeit

droiture rectitude

hreinskilni

priamosť

doğruluk

直线性

straightness

[ˈstreɪtnɪs] N

1. (lit) [of road, arm leg] → lo recto; [of hair] → lo liso; [of back] → lo recto, lo erguido

2. (fig) (= honesty) → honestidad f; (= frankness) → franqueza f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

straight

(streit) adjective

1. not bent or curved. a straight line; straight (= not curly) hair; That line is not straight.

2. (of a person, his behaviour etc) honest, frank and direct. Give me a straight answer!

3. properly or levelly positioned. Your tie isn't straight.

4. correct and tidy. I'll never get this house straight!; Now let's get the facts straight!

5. (of drinks) not mixed. a straight gin.

6. (of a face, expression etc) not smiling or laughing. You should keep a straight face while you tell a joke.

7. (of an actor) playing normal characters, or (of a play) of the ordinary type – not a musical or variety show.

adverb

1. in a straight, not curved, line; directly. His route went straight across the desert; She can't steer straight; Keep straight on.

2. immediately, without any delay. He went straight home after the meeting.

3. honestly or fairly. You're not playing (= behaving) straight.

noun

the straight part of something, eg of a racecourse. He's in the final straight.

ˈstraighten verb

to make or become straight. He straightened his tie; The road curved and then straightened.

ˈstraightness noun

straightˈforward adjective

1. without difficulties or complications; simple. a straightforward task.

2. (of a person, his manner etc) frank and honest. a nice straightforward boy.

straightˈforwardly adverb

straightˈforwardness noun

straight talking

frank discussion.

go straight

(of a former criminal) to lead an honest life.

straight away

immediately. Do it straight away!

straighten out/up

Their house is where the lane straightens out; He was bending over his work, but straightened up when he saw me; She straightened the room up; He's trying to straighten out the facts.

a straight fight

an election contest involving only two candidates.

straight off

straight away.

References in classic literature ?

The fourth sort of quality is figure and the shape that belongs to a thing; and besides this, straightness and curvedness and any other qualities of this type; each of these defines a thing as being such and such.

View in context

"Well, we stood looking at each other for some time, and I was never more convinced of anybody's straightness and sincerity; but he was straight and sincere with me, and true to you that night, whatever he may have been before and after.

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One of our favorite youths, Jack, a splendid young fellow with a head full of good sense, and a pair of legs that were a wonder to look upon in the way of length and straightness and slimness, used to report progress every morning in the most glowing and spirited way, and say:

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The chest was deep, it is true, cavernously deep; but there were no full-swelling muscles, no wide-spreading shoulders, no clean-limbed straightness, no generous symmetry of outline.

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How, with the tintless pallor of her skin and the classic straightness of her lineaments, she managed to look sensual, I don't know.

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A fresh and healthy portrait the looking- glass presented of the Reverend Septimus, feinting and dodging with the utmost artfulness, and hitting out from the shoulder with the utmost straightness, while his radiant features teemed with innocence, and soft-hearted benevolence beamed from his boxing- gloves.

View in context

Above all things he prized and admired and demanded from his friends the quality of straightness. It was his one demand.

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The shape of his head, the squareness of his jaws, the straightness of his thick lips, all seemed to speak of a hard and inflexible disposition.

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But the hard wrathful and sordid nature that had wrung as much work out of them as could be got in their best days, for as little money as could be paid to hurry on their worst, had never been so warped but that it knew their moral straightness and respected it.

View in context

"'Never,' she said, and her eyes looked into mine with the straightness of truth.

View in context

The face in the looking-glass was serious and intent, apparently occupied with other things besides the straightness of the parting which, however, was being driven as straight as a Roman road through the dark hair.

View in context

It is hard to see that the lower part of the face is too delicately refined away towards the chin to be in full and fair proportion with the upper part; that the nose, in escaping the aquiline bend (always hard and cruel in a woman, no matter how abstractedly perfect it may be), has erred a little in the other extreme, and has missed the ideal straightness of line; and that the sweet, sensitive lips are subject to a slight nervous contraction, when she smiles, which draws them upward a little at one corner, towards the cheek.