Definition of "nonlinear" []

• Not in a straight line. (adjective)
• Mathematics Occurring as a result of an operation that is not linear. (adjective)
• Mathematics Containing a variable with an exponent other than one. Used of an equation. (adjective)
• Of or relating to a system of equations whose effects are not proportional to their causes. Such a set of equations can be chaotic. (adjective)
• Of or relating to a device whose behavior is described by a set of nonlinear equations and whose output is not proportional to its input. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I am quite familiar with the standard scientific application of ˜irreducible complexity 'in nonlinear science."
• "I am quite familiar with the standard scientific application of 'irreducible complexity' in nonlinear science."
• "My research in nonlinear optics continued with special emphasis on interactions of picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses with condensed matter and of collision-induced optical coherences."