Lateral shows up in all kinds of contexts. A lateral job change is one that keeps you at about the same job level and salary. A coach might have special drills to improve his players' lateral speed and agility. The British speak of "lateral thinking", thinking that grabs ideas that may not seem to be relevant but turn out to work well—what we might call "thinking outside the box". But we know lateral best from football. A lateral pass is a pass of the ball between teammates that usually goes to the side and slightly backward from the direction in which they're advancing; unlike a forward pass, a lateral may be made from any position, and any number may be made in a single play.
Adjective the lateral force of an earthquake from the lateral view you can see how thick the wall really is
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The little brother of Travis Etienne, a former Clemson All-America now with the Jacksonville Jags, showed lateral quickness, instincts and explosiveness en route to 64 yards on just 5 carries. Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 6 Sep. 2022 Even lateral moves can enable people to recharge, expand their skills, or find a position that is a better fit. Kweilin Ellingrud, Forbes, 8 Aug. 2022 Can get himself in trouble defensively by running around a bit and getting beaten on strong east-west lateral moves. Kyle Woodlief, USA TODAY, 7 July 2022 Some officers are making lateral moves to other departments for a lower cost of living or to avoid some of the stresses that come with big-city policing, Hart said. Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Mar. 2022 Officials looked into expanding El Cajon’s police force by 10 experienced officers after noticing that interest in lateral moves soared from three applications every few months to 36 applications in recent weeks, City Manager Graham Mitchell said. Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Dec. 2021 Both, however, seem like lateral moves for Paul at this point.cleveland, 31 Aug. 2021 The most feasible option to help sure up the lack of defensive tackle depth could be lateral moves from defensive ends.Dallas News, 11 Mar. 2021 Think Laterally, Not Just Horizontally Most onboarding processes focus on where people fit into an organization hierarchically, while precious few highlight the lateral flow across an organization. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 27 May 2022
Noun
Walsh twice rallied from two-score deficits to beat Benedictine on the road with a trick play, as senior receiver Gabe Gardner took a lateral from quarterback Ryan Kerscher and found Owen Feliciano on a 20-yard TD. Matt Goul, cleveland, 22 Aug. 2022 Blount caught Vigor napping when Ford tossed a lateral to wide receiver Myron Dunklin, who then fired a pass to a wide-open Marlon Miller streaking down the field alone. Darron Patterson, al, 20 Aug. 2022 This entailed drilling vertically and then building a curved section at 5°/100 ft drilled, and finally maintaining a lateral at 65° to the vertical, for about 4,300 feet in an azimuth just south of east (N105E). Ian Palmer, Forbes, 19 May 2022 At the FORGE field laboratory, the length of the lateral will be devoted to testing out new technologies. Ian Palmer, Forbes, 19 May 2022 The accepted explanation has been that the swaying was due to a weird synchronicity between the bridge's lateral (sideways) sway and pedestrians' gaits—an example of emergent collective phenomena. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 20 Dec. 2021 However, Leonard's lateral was deemed to be forward and therefore a penalty. Scott Horner, The Indianapolis Star, 12 Oct. 2021 The Utes also showed great discipline on the play, staying home after Berryhill accepted the initial lateral. Michael Lev, The Arizona Republic, 15 Nov. 2021 At 12:43 of the first quarter, receiver Kendrick Bourne took a lateral from Jones, then threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to fellow receiver Nelson Agholor. Mark Daniels, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2021
Verb
Florida State tried to lateral the ball multiple times, but Clemson eventually picked up a fumble and scored. Christopher Smith, al, 31 Oct. 2021 The vast majority of the time, when a football team tries to lateral its way down the field in desperation, the result benefits the defending the team. Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 12 Sep. 2020 Quarterback Ryan Tannehill connected with Kenny Stills, who tossed the ball to DeVante Parker, who lateraled to Kenyan Drake, who ran 52 yards for the game-winning score, outrunning Rob Gronkowski en route to the end zone. Jim Reineking, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2020 Brady recovered and lateraled to Ben Watson, who sent it back to Edelman, who flung it back to Thuney.BostonGlobe.com, 31 Dec. 2019 The big guard lateraled to Mohamed Sanu, who shipped it back to White, who fumbled, ending the play.BostonGlobe.com, 31 Dec. 2019 Renfrow lateraled to tight end Marcell Ateman, who gained nine more yards. Ryan O’halloran, The Denver Post, 30 Dec. 2019 On the Ducks' final play, with one second left on the clock, Chris Miller throws a 15-yard pass to Kwante Hampton, who laterals to Ladaria Johnson.oregonlive, 25 Nov. 2019 On the 49ers’ next drive, Garoppolo lateraled to wideout Deebo Samuel, who pitched the ball to Sanders, who tossed an off-his-back-foot pass under pressure to all-alone running back Raheem Mostert for a 35-yard touchdown. Eric Branch, SFChronicle.com, 8 Dec. 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective, Noun, and Verb
Middle English laterale, from Latin lateralis, from later-, latus side