WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
lat•er•al /ˈlætərəl/USA pronunciation
adj.
n. [countable]
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- of or related to the side;
located at, proceeding from, or directed to a side:a lateral pass in football. - relating to a new but equivalent or similar position, office, etc.:The company offered her a lateral move but not a promotion.
- Phonetics(of a speech sound) produced so that the breath passes on either or both sides of the tongue:The sound (l) is a lateral sound in English.
n. [countable]
- Sporta pass in football that is to the side, not forward.
- Phoneticsa lateral speech sound.
v.
- Sport[no object] to throw a lateral in football.
lat•er•al
(lat′ər əl),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
v.i.
v.t.
lat′er•al•ly, adv.
- of or pertaining to the side;
situated at, proceeding from, or directed to a side:a lateral view. - pertaining to or entailing a position, office, etc., that is different but equivalent or roughly equivalent in status, as distinguished from a promotion or demotion:a lateral move.
- Phoneticsarticulated so that the breath passes on either or both sides of the tongue, as l.
n.
- a lateral part or extension, as a branch or shoot.
- Mininga small drift off to the side of a principal one.
- Phoneticsa lateral speech sound.
- Sport[Football.]See lateral pass.
v.i.
- Sport[Football.]to throw a lateral pass.
- to move laterally or sideways:migrating birds lateraling down into Cape May.
v.t.
- Sport[Football.]to throw (the ball) in a lateral pass.
- Latin laterālis of the side, equivalent. to later- (stem of latus) side + -ālis -al1
- 1590–1600
'laterally' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
amphipod
- bank
- bivalve
- castle
- longshore drift
- oystercatcher
- sea snake
- spur
- temporal lobe
- translate
- traverse
- cerebral hemisphere
- chain coral
- compressed
- hammerhead
- interfinger
- Iron Cross
- laccolith
- lateral
- lisp
- narrow
- pentaprism
- platycnemia
- reverse
- round
- wide
- shear modulus
- spread
- stromateid