lateral

lateral — adjective

1. located at, pointing towards, or connected with sideways motion — for instance,

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

located at, pointing towards, or connected with sideways motion — for instance, a lateral branch sprouting from a plant stem, or a lateral move to a different role in the same company.

Example

Christopher noticed a crack running along the lateral wall of the old well.

lateral + noun for side position

The plant produces lateral branches from the main stem each spring.

Common collocations
  • lateral movement
  • lateral thinking
  • lateral move
  • lateral branch
  • lateral wall
  • lateral line
  • lateral surface
Synonyms
  • side

    more general and informal; lateral is preferred in technical or formal descriptions

  • sideways

    focuses on direction rather than position; used mostly for movement

  • flanking

    military or strategic positioning; narrower in scope

Antonyms
  • central

    located at the middle rather than the side

  • medial

    technical antonym in anatomy and biology

Grammar Patterns

lateral + noun

Usage Note

This is the broadest sense of lateral, appearing in physical descriptions (lateral wall, lateral movement) and abstract contexts (lateral thinking, lateral career move). Do not confuse with literal, which means exact or word-for-word.

Common Mistakes

He made a literal thinking decision.
He made a lateral thinking decision.
'Literal' means factual or word-for-word; 'lateral thinking' means finding creative solutions by approaching a problem from a new direction.

2. describing a speech sound produced when the centre of the mouth is blocked and t

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing a speech sound produced when the centre of the mouth is blocked and the breath passes around the sides of the tongue — the English /l/ is a lateral consonant.

Example

Amihan felt the air move around the sides of her tongue while saying the /l/ sound in speech class.

Children learning to speak sometimes replace lateral sounds with other consonants such as /w/.

lateral sounds as a phonetic category

Common collocations
  • lateral consonant
  • lateral sound
  • lateral approximant
  • lateral release
Antonyms
  • central

    describes a consonant where air flows along the middle of the tongue, e.g. /s/, /t/

Grammar Patterns

lateral + noun (consonant/sound)

Usage Note

This is a technical phonetic term. A lateral consonant contrasts with a central consonant, where the air flows along the middle of the tongue rather than around the sides. The only common lateral consonant in English is /l/.

lateral — noun

lateral — verb

Word family

  • laterally
    adverbB2
  • laterality
    nounC2
  • bilateral
    adjectiveC1
  • unilateral
    adjectiveC1
  • equilateral
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Lateral, side, sideways, and flanking all relate to positions or movements away from the centre, but they differ in usage and register. Lateral is the most formal and technical term — it is preferred in anatomy ('lateral incisor'), biology ('lateral buds'), and business ('lateral move'). Side is the everyday, neutral word: 'the side entrance', 'side effects'. Sideways focuses specifically on direction of movement — 'a sideways glance' or 'slide sideways' — and is less common for static position. Flanking has a military or strategic connotation, suggesting deliberate positioning to attack or defend from the side ('a flanking manoeuvre'). For example, you would say 'the car skidded sideways' (direction), not 'laterally'; you would say 'lateral thinking' (a set phrase), not 'sideways thinking'; and you would say 'a flanking attack' (tactical), not 'a lateral attack'.

side ↗sideways ↗flanking

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • laterally

Phrases

  • lateral thinking
  • lateral move
  • lateral pass

Prepositions

  • lateral to

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Lateral comes from the Latin word lateralis, meaning 'of the side', which is itself derived from latus ('side'). It entered English in the early 15th century, first used in anatomy and geometry to describe side positions. The American football noun and verb senses developed in the early 20th century as the sport codified its passing rules. The phonetic sense emerged in late 19th-century linguistics alongside the formal study of speech sounds.